


The Sun on Your Scales and the Pride of Our People

by ennuithereyet



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe- Fantasy, Blowjobs, Dragon!Eren, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, First Time, M/M, handjobs, mercenary!Levi, no longer eventual
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-25
Updated: 2014-10-17
Packaged: 2018-02-18 17:40:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 31,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2356907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ennuithereyet/pseuds/ennuithereyet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is no room in the world for a half-breed. Eren has long known that the humans in the village below his mountain will never think of him as anything but a monster. No human in the entire world would. There was no place left for a dragon now, except at the end of their swords. Half-dragon, half-human, Eren was even worse; an abomination to be feared and hated.</p><p>Levi gave up on the world years ago. Burdened with a past he refuses to remember and two swords at his sides, he became one of the best mercenaries throughout the land. Passing through a town on the outskirts of the country, he was offered a decent reward if he would take care of the monster on their mountain.</p><p>It should have been easy, should have ended on the edge of a sword, but dragons are cunning creatures, and stories like this are never that simple, are they?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> ~~cough yes I haven't updated anything else hahahaha i'm so sorry~~
> 
> The dragonverse ereri RP between two dork lord friends who spend too much time on skype. This began as a stress relief thing for fun and spiraled into a story we both fell in love with, and once we knew how to finish it, we knew it had to be told. You can find us at our tumblrs: [ennuithereyet](http://downtheupstairs.tumblr.com) and [khimairan](http://khimairan.tumblr.com)

In hindsight, it was his fault for falling asleep where they could see him. Eren had a strange love-hate relationship with human beings; they were disgusting, immoral and bred like field mice, and yet they had complex social behaviors and weird habits that he couldn’t help finding interesting. For the most part, he left them alone, having no desire to relive the drama and bloodshed of his childhood by alerting anyone to his presence. He had his home, such as it was, up on the mountainside, and he could care for himself without outside help. Occasionally though, the young dragon would feel the itch of curiosity scratching at the back of his mind, the need to learn and see more of the world that his mother had fed before he’d lost her. His natural coloring made it easy to stay hidden if he kept to the trees, stayed still and quiet, and there were a perfect batch of heavy oak trees near the side of the large human village at the base of the mountain. Suspicious and curious by turns, Eren coiled his sleek body onto a thick branch, wings hidden among the leaves, and watched for hours. They did strange things, carried objects back and forth, specialized their skills in ways that kept most people from being able to do complex repairs without paying someone else for it- pretty stupid, in his opinion, but most humans were.

Eren was contemplating the foibles of humanity when he dozed off, lulled by the gentle sway of the oak branches under him and the smell of warm grass and leaves. It wasn’t long, his brief amount of sleep, but it was long enough for his tail to slip off the branch and catch the attention of a curious child- one all too happy to run screaming back to the village, waking him up with a start and sending the humans into a panic. Livestock bellowing about a predator, he thought uncharitably; that didn’t stop Eren from leaping from the tree, wings beating harshly to carry him out of arrow range and back to his home, distressed yelling echoing off the hillside behind him.

Well, so much for no one noticing him. Shit.

* * *

 

It was just a job. That’s how it all started. Levi had found himself in this remote little town, almost out of money, and when the villagers heard he was a mercenary they offered him a job. He’d never slayed a dragon before, didn’t even know they existed, but Levi had yet to come up against something he couldn’t kill, or at least get away from with his life in tact. How hard could it be to kill a dragon? Maybe if Levi had grown up hearing fairy tales he would know that it wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but he didn’t and he was confident that he would be able to conquer this beast and get his pay.

Then, he was in a ditch. Well, not a ditch; more like a cave, because ditches were at least made of dirt which provided some amount of softness for landing, and Levi had definitely landed on hard stone. He tried to sit up and failed when a sharp pain in his side stopped him. Fuck. Broken ribs. _Just_ what he wanted to deal with.

How did he even get there? He’d been stalking the dragon, following the traces he’d made back to where he most likely had his nest, and just as he thought he was getting close the ground dropped out from beneath him. Looking around, glad his night vision was good because only a small amount of moonlight was coming in, Levi saw that it had clearly been a trap. A _simple_ trap. Sticks laid across the entrance with leaves covering it to make it look like part of the ground, a trap designed to ensnare _animals_ , not hunters as good as Levi.

But he hadn’t been careful. He didn’t expect an animal to be able to set something like this up, even if it was simple. Levi couldn’t imagine it being anyone but the dragon, because the villagers were all too afraid of the thing to go anywhere near here, and no other animal would possibly be this smart. How was a _dragon_ so smart, though? It was an _animal_. But apparently, it was a smart one. And Levi had been tricked.

He passed out as he cursed his own stupidity.

* * *

 

This never should have happened. Years of being careful, years of avoiding anyone’s notice, and now he’d fucked up. It was hard to tell if Eren was more furious or afraid. The villagers had always seemed too simple, too mind-numbingly domestic to manage more than a little outrage and screaming if they did catch him, but here was a man stalking his way around the ruins of Eren’s home, and he wasn’t a farmer or some dumb village human that waved a pitchfork and yelped a bit. This was one dangerous, sleek and quiet, hunting with a purpose.

Claws dug into the bark of the heavy oak branches, Eren kept still and quiet high above, teeth sinking into his lip in anxiety. Fuck. It was happening again, a human coming for his life. Eren didn’t want to have to bloody his hands this time but he wasn’t going to let his life be taken, either. The snap of branches breaking interrupted his frantic planning, though, and the dragon leaned out of the tree he’d been lurking in, trying to see the ground far below. The hunter had fallen into one of Eren’s old traps…? Well that made this easier. Wings spreading, Eren coasted carefully down, following the wind currents and crouching at the edge of the stone dungeon; it lay open to the air from long-ago destruction of the manor house that had once stood above, and dirt and debris littered the small stone corridors.

The human’s shape wasn’t moving; dropping his vision into heat detection only showed him the sprawled body. Dead, maybe? Suspicious, heart slamming under his chest, Eren carefully dropped down into a crouch on the dungeon floor. No movement, still, but the man was breathing. Unconscious, then; holding back the growl in his throat, Eren leapt back up, going for the coil of rope he’d kept in his stored supplies.

* * *

 

Breathing hurt. A lot. The pain was enough to wake Levi up, and he snapped back to reality quickly when he realized his arms were tied in front of him. He didn’t even need to look to see that his weapons were all gone, he was so familiar with their weight in the holsters around his waist and thighs that he knew immediately when they were missing, but that was to be expected if he was tied up. And Levi was tied up _well_. His ankles were tied tightly, and it was a good thing his boots were still on so the rope didn’t cut into his skin. There were loops of rope wrapped around the entire length of his forearms, making a sleeve from his wrist to elbow that would be impossible to slip. The bonds plus his broken ribs and bruises from the fall meant that Levi was essentially screwed.

He could at least shuffle himself around enough to get a decent look at the place. He was lying on his side, unable to prop himself up because of the pain, but he could move his head enough to see the leaves and branches that had fallen from the trap, the rough, unadorned stone walls, and then _there_ , standing out with how he shimmered a bit in the moonlight, was a creature.

Levi wasn’t sure at first what it was. It was… in some ways, it looked human. Levi couldn’t tell for sure because of the darkness, but the eyes looked human, and the general shape looked human, but then there were scaled wings and a tail that reflected the light so they were more visible than any other part of it other than the eyes. And it was watching him. Levi didn’t move once he realized this, tried to keep his breathing light, though the broken ribs were already helping with that. He stared right back at the creature, figuring it had been the one to tie him up, though he couldn’t see if its hands even looked human in the poor lighting. It would probably try to kill him, Levi thought, and it would probably succeed. Levi had always been a fighter, and that had gotten him in bad situations before, so he would fight his way out the best he could, but right now, in a ditch he wouldn’t even be able to climb out of and after a fall he frankly shouldn’t have even survived, he couldn’t see a way out that wasn’t his death. But he would stare down the creature and dare it to think that he wouldn’t at least try to fight.

Eren growled as he saw the figure looking at him. Awake, then, and all of the worry and anxiety in the young dragon’s body boiled into anger before he spat, wings shifting in hostility and threat, “What the hell do you want? Why did you come here?” It wasn’t like he couldn’t guess; you didn’t send a hunter up a mountain for no fucking reason and this one had been tracing Eren’s steps. Still, he wanted to hear it for himself.

The creature was threatening, sure, but Levi’s sense of fear had long ago been dug out of his nerves and thrown away, so he just watched the creature make itself larger and then speak. “I was paid to kill you,” he explained simply, boredly. “Well, half up front, half when the job’s done, so right now it’s looking like I’m only getting that first half.” He wasn’t stupid; he knew his chance of killing this thing at this point was pretty low. It then occurred to Levi that the creature had just spoken to him. And Levi understood. “Wait,” he said. “How come I can understand you?”

Hissing under his breath, Eren dug his claws into the stone below him, heart rate spiking. It was happening again, and they wanted him dead now, just like his mother. “And they sent just one of you?” The comment was pithy, his temper high enough to be insulted in a way, but it was better to keep up the act of hostility than let his nerves show. Fucking humans would tear you apart if you let them, he’d learned that all too well. Snorting at the question, Eren growled, “As unintelligent as your kind tends to be, I thought English was still pretty well known. How the fuck do you think?”

“Well, I’m not exactly one of them,” Levi explained, a little surprised but nonplussed about the sound of claws scraping on stone. “I’m a mercenary. I was visiting town, I ran out of money, they said they had a dragon problem and they’d pay me to take care of it.” He shrugged as best he could, but allowed himself to get angry at the response to the question about language. “Well, _excuse me_ for not thinking that a creature, a _dragon_ would be able to communicate with humans,” he snapped, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Even when he was in pain, Levi’s ability to be sarcastic always stood strong.

“Figures,” Eren said, contempt thick in his voice as his eyes glinted green and angry in the dark. “You murdering fucks are only good for killing, anyways. It’s practically your birthright, running around stabbing things that never did you a lick of harm.” The biting tone was different, scathing but interesting and Eren wondered why he didn’t hear more people speak like this when he listened in on them. Just as sharply, he growled back, “Oh, _right_ , I forgot you _all-powerful humans_ are the greatest thing to walk the Earth. Take your ego and cram it up your ass, why don’t you?”

It was actually kind of fun to rile this thing up, even if it was probably still going to kill Levi at some point. He could at least die with a sarcastic comment on his lips. But the accusation that humans just went around hurting things that never hurt them was something that stabbed Levi just as badly as the pang of his broken ribs. _Don’t think about it_ , he told himself. He couldn’t help himself from saying, “Well, I have to agree with you there.” But other than that, he was determined not to think about it. _Focus on the language discussion._ “Well, doesn’t the fact that you speak our language just prove how powerful humans are?” he asked. “If dragons were the most powerful things on Earth I’m sure we’d speak your language, but we don’t.”

It was … unexpected, to hear a human hunter agreeing on anything concerning the cruelty of his own kind. Eren narrowed his eyes, trying to read the man’s expression in the dark shadows of the dungeon to get some reading of his attitude. “Hardly,” he muttered with a snort, tail lashing across the ground in a rush of moving dirt and leaves. “First off, you’re assuming humans came up with language on their own. Secondly, you couldn’t speak Draconic to save your miserable life. Not,” he growled, standing up slowly, “that I have any intention of saving your life to begin with.” The words were true, but already Eren was struggling in his own mind with what to do. The man couldn’t do anything tied up, there was no use killing him while he was helpless. Leaving him here to rot felt… disgusting, but Eren knew the dishonesty of humans too well to simply let the man go with a warning. Now what?

“Well I know fuckall about history, so how would I know how language got started?” Levi asked, even though he knew that he couldn’t have expected this creature to know the extent of his knowledge. “And don’t worry. I didn’t really expect you to save my life. It’s not like I can fight back. You’re really fucking good with knots, you know that?” He held up his bound forearms as an example, but the movement shifted his ribs and caused him to wince in pain. “Besides, if you just left me here it’s not like it’d take me long to die from infection from this fucking disgusting cave. If you can speak English and tie knots, can’t you at least clean once in a while?”

“Typical,” Eren muttered, unimpressed but also reluctantly curious again. What were humans even taught if they didn’t know their own history? Smirking at the gesture pointing out his well-woven bindings, green eyes narrowed at the flinch; was the man injured somehow, then? Eren had been careful to touch him as little as possible and had little to no sense of him as a living being. The complaint about the dungeon derailed his thoughts entirely, though. “Wait, what?” Glancing around, Eren stiffened, snapping a moment later, “It’s a dungeon, the fuck do you want from me? I didn’t build it.”

Levi’s ribs were starting to irritate him more, whether it was the talking or just time. But he refused to show it. He couldn’t help the little flinches, but he knew how to hide pain well. “It doesn’t matter if you didn’t build it,” he argued. “You’re using it; you should clean it.” He scoffed, even though it hurt his ribs. “Fuck, they didn’t need to send me to kill you, you’re going to do it yourself.”

Insulted, Eren crossed his arms, tail sliding back and forth- not unlike an irritable cat’s. “I don’t live down here, and why the hell should I clean it? Despite your dumb ass falling into it, I don’t have visitors that often, _shockingly enough_ ,” was the sarcastic reply, even as he glanced around in bewilderment. The hell was this guy even talking about? “It’s just dirt. There’s not even anything poisonous down here.”

“ _Just_ dirt?” Levi asked, incredulous. “Do you know how you get sick? Dirt. And it doesn’t matter that you don’t live down here. I know for a fact that there is mold down here and you can get sick just by breathing it in and I bet it drifts all the way up to where you do live.” He sighed and looked around. “I refuse to stay down here if you don’t clean it. I’ll do it myself, I don’t care. Get me some bleach, a rag, and a handkerchief.”

“I don’t get sick, especially not from dirt,” Eren said flatly, wondering how the hell this conversation was running away from him. Even the anger roiling in his guts was hard to hold on to when he kept being derailed by random thoughts and questions; the fact that this man wasn’t scared of him at all didn’t help. Eren couldn’t even manage more than a startled, incredulous stare at the ‘I refuse’ comment. “You don’t exactly have a lot of choices- wait, you’re going to- what?” A few years spying on human beings had not given the half-dragon any clue how to deal with an angry, tied up man that wanted to clean his dungeons. “Uh.” Scratching at a few of his scales, claws lightly clinking against them, Eren hesitated before asking, “What’s bleach?”

“Everyone gets fucking sick,” Levi insisted. Even animals got sick. No way this thing was immune from everything. And then the thing said it didn’t know what bleach was. Levi gaped, staring at the dragon in disbelief. “Holy shit. You don’t know what bleach is? What the fuck do you clean your bathrooms with?”

Feeling incredibly out of his depth, Eren shifted, settling into a crouch after a moment; looming over the tied figure just made him feel stupid. Shrugging hesitantly, the dragon tilted his head, staring at the man bound up in the corner. “I don’t... understand?” Did humans have rooms just to wash themselves in? Why would that require some weird special cleaning thing?

Levi was more frustrated about this than he was about being tied up after he fell into a trap that gave him broken ribs. He repeated through gritted teeth, “What. Do you use. To clean. Your bathrooms.”

Feeling remarkably threatened by a smaller, weaker creature that was literally tied up at his feet, Eren winced. The webbed fans of his ears flicked backwards uncertainly, giving away the uncertainty and alarm as he swallowed. “I, uh. I don’t know what bathrooms are.” Disliking having to admit that, Eren offered a moment later, “Uh, but I’m sure if I did have them, they’d be clean?”

“You don’t know what fucking bathrooms are?!” The exclamation made Levi’s ribs scream in pain but he didn’t care about that now. “Where the fuck do you piss and shit?!”

What the everloving fuck was this guy’s problem? The extremely blunt question made a heavy, mottled flush cross the skin of his face that was free of scales; shoulders up defensively, Eren snapped, “What in the fuck do you want to know that for?! You think I just do that in the middle of my home? What is wrong with you, there’s forest for miles in every direction!”

This was disgusting. Levi kind of wanted to retch, but he caught himself before he could hurt his ribs doing so and stopped himself from doing it. “Why would you shit in the forest when you’ve got a toilet, you disgusting brat?!”

Increasingly irritated, Eren bared his teeth as he yelled back, “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about! Whatever you think I have here, this isn’t some fucking fancy human place anymore.” One clawed hand pointing upwards in the vague direction of where he slept, he said flatly, “There are broken walls, two intact rooms, one ceiling, and a whole lot of broken things that don’t work anymore. Whatever was here, it burned down or got destroyed or something, way before I ever got here.” A sneer curling his lip, he looked at the human with contempt. “As if anything like me would live in a human dwelling anyways.”

“Well, it doesn’t have to be a _human_ dwelling,” Levi huffed. “I’m just saying. You could keep things clean. You’re not an animal.” He thought over those words for a moment. “Well… Wait, what are you? Like, I know you’re a dragon, but what all does that mean? You kinda look a little... human-y for a supposedly bloodthirsty monster.” His lip curled bitterly. “Though, I guess you could be fully human and still be a bloodthirsty monster.”

Eren didn’t know how to react at first. Simple, basic words- “ _you’re not an animal_ ”- and yet it was more than any human being had bothered to say about him before. Caught off guard, he answered the question without thinking to ignore it; hesitant and quiet, he muttered, “I’m a half-breed. Human and dragon. Didn’t they even tell you what they were sending you to kill?”

“That’s possible?” Levi asked, confused. “A human and dragon fucking and having a kid? That… is really fucking weird. And, no, they didn’t tell me. They just said a dragon lived somewhere up here, so go kill it. That’s how my job works.” But he needed to get back to the point about cleanliness. “Well, if you have an ounce of human in you, you should take care of the home you’ve got and there’s no excuse.” Then Levi came up with a brilliant idea. “I’ll make you a deal,” he suggested. “I’ll fix up your craphole of a house, and clean it too, and afterwards you let me go.”

Flushing at the blunt question, Eren huffed irritably. “Well, here I am, so you fucking figure it out.” He knew all too well that it was possible, remembered the history of his mother’s love affair and betrayal by the man she’d married, but that was the last thing he was going to bring up to this… irritating, weird, interesting, infuriating ball of skin that was tied up in his dungeon. “You say that like I take pride in any of my human blood,” Eren muttered, eyes widening in disbelief and confusion at the offer. Was this guy damaged in the mind? Who would think this was a good idea. Looking around in disbelief at the cracked walls and overgrowth of vines, Eren looked back down at the figure and asked flatly, “You want to start cleaning the broken-down shell of an old house for the half-breed spawn that lives there? Did you hit your head on the way down?” A pause, and his voice was smaller, as young as he actually was when the dragon child mumbled, “You know, you’re supposed to scream at the sight of me. That’s what your kind always does.”

“Look,” Levi said bluntly. “There’s no point in me killing you if you’re living in filth, since you’re gonna catch something and keel over any day now. And since you don’t seem like you’re going to kill me anytime soon, either get on with it or let me stay here until my ribs get better because they’re fucking broken, thank you very much, and I will not do that in this moldy shithole. I’m saying I’ll clean it, just get me the supplies.” He’d need to be untied, too, but he figured they could get to that part later. “Once I’m better, I’ll be on my way and I’ll never bother you again. I’ll even tell them that I killed you if you want, so they stop getting on your case.” He was surprised when Eren told him he should have screamed at the sight of him. “Why would I scream at you?” he asked. “People scream at the sight of _me_. Then again, I’m usually holding a bloody sword, but... “ He shrugged again, and again his ribs sent a jolt of pain through his body. He really needed to stop doing that.

“I told you, I don’t get sick,” Eren growled, trying to keep up his faltering temper and failing. This guy was just… weird, nothing like a normal stupid human was supposed to act. “And don’t blame me for your broken ribs, you’re the one that came up here poking around where it’s not your business.” His toes fidgeted, scratching at the stone floor again. Human or not, Eren didn’t like causing pain, didn’t have a reason to sink his nails into soft flesh and watch this man bleed to death. There was no human that could be trusted to keep their promises, but even so, the other options were less appealing and maybe this guy would just… go, when it was over. It would be nice to just be left alone and not wake up to the ring of steel being pulled from a scabbard; though from the sound of it, this guy was far from trustworthy on _that_ scale, too. “...Fine,” Eren finally sighed, head dropping a little. “I don’t care. Do what you want, and get lost when you’re better.”

All Levi cared about was that he had a chance. He could get out of here alive. There was hope. “Well,” he said. “You’re gonna have to bring me some supplies if you expect me to clean this place.”

Warily, Eren stared at him, already getting a bad feeling about this. “What do you want? Anything I don’t have, I have to steal, and that’s not exactly easy to do, y’know.”

Levi was winning. This was great. He just might get out of here alive. “Bleach,” he listed when Eren asked. “Soap. Rags, a lot of them. A couple of handkerchiefs.”

Eren sighed. Why did he have the feeling he’d just agreed to way more misery than it sounded like? “Again, what the hell is ‘bleach’? Where do I find something like that?”

“People keep it with their cleaning supplies,” Levi explained. “It burns when you touch it and will kill you if you drink it. And please tell me you at least have a mop and broom.”

That sounded awful. “Wow, and you want me to go get that, why again?” The mop and broom comment made him glance around uncertainly, as if there might be something of the sort hiding under nearby tree roots. “Um.”

“Because it also kills dirt,” Levi explained, frustrated with this thing’s ignorance about the basic standards of cleanliness. “Oh God. Please tell me you know what a mop and broom are.”

A low, petulant huff on his lips, Eren hunched his shoulders. “Dirt isn’t bad, it lets living things grow,” he muttered, purposely not answering the question at all.

“Things that kill you also live in it.” Levi didn’t miss how Eren didn’t respond about the other cleaning supplies, though, and he wasn’t going to let him get away with that. “And you never answered about the mop and broom.”

This conversation was going in circles and Eren groaned, thunking his head against the stone wall behind him. “ _Fine_. Just… whatever. I’ll get you your nasty killing fluid, then.” A pause, Eren’s expression uncertain and defensive. “You never told me what those are.”

“Well, I asked if you knew what they are, but you obviously don’t.” Levi stared at Eren in awe. “Seriously, how are you not dead yet?”

“I…” A nervous shuffle, eyes cast down at his feet, just barely visible now as the sun began edging the horizon in white and blue. “Not for lack of hunters like you trying, but I’m not easy to kill. Just.. describe what you want, and I’ll try to find them.”

Levi huffed, his ribs sending another jolt through his body that reminded him he was still uncomfortably lying on his side tied up. “No,” he clarified, trying unsuccessfully to shift to a more comfortable position. “I mean, how are you not dead from your own lack of hygiene?” He sighed. “A broom is a stick with straw tied to the bottom and you use it to sweep the floor if you’re not a disgusting pig. A mop is a stick with pieces of… pieces of… Ugh, it’s a mop! Everyone knows what a mop is! You dip it in soapy water and clean the floor with it!”

A disbelieving scoff, followed by the mutter of, “I’m not _that_ dirty, for fuck’s sake.” Despite how infuriating the human was being, Eren did honestly try to picture what he was talking about. “Okay, broom I’ve seen before. Uh.” Goddamn it. “Look,” he growled, “pretend I spent the entirety of my life living in the wilderness, then stop pretending. Tiamat’s balls… sticks with things on the end, like farm tools?”

Levi had never been a patient person, and explaining basic hygiene to a dragon was not a good way to test what little he had, especially when he was already pissed off from having broken ribs and bruises all over. “No, not like farm tools; like _cleaning_ tools. It’s got like stringy things on the end, it’s- it’s a fucking mop, ok? Need me to draw you a picture?”

Tiamat’s scaly ass, this man was _unbelievable_. Beyond trying to hold his temper, Eren threw his hands up and snapped, “Yeah, actually, a picture would be great since _I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about!_ I’m already getting your damned cleaning stuff, quit complaining so much!”

“Fine,” Levi snapped, done trying to explain. “Get me some paper and something to draw with.”

Grumbling under his breath, the dragon didn’t bother to reply, launching himself into the air with a flash of green scales and puffs of dirt thrown up by his wing beats. It took little enough time to circle the cracked shell of the manor, claws scraping stone as he skidded across the floor. Paper was valuable, and he kept it inside the only room still waterproof, beyond his sleeping area in a locked cabinet. The key stayed around his neck at all times, removed only briefly to open and close the small piece of furniture. One sheet of paper, smooth under his fingers as he slipped it from the woven basket, a stick of charcoal from their small box, and the cabinet was re-locked, keeping the rest of his treasures safe.

Levi allowed himself to openly gape at the sight of the dragon flying, noting that the thing’s eyes weren't looking anywhere near him before doing so. It was quite a beautiful sight, but Levi could tell if there was more lighting the glint off the yellow and what Levi thought he could see was green scales would be even more gorgeous. He found himself enraptured, having to remind himself that some of the most beautiful and colorful creatures are the most poisonous and dangerous.

He coughed in the dust the creature’s wings had spread around, which only served to hurt him further, but he managed to get himself up into a sitting position while the dragon was gone. He didn’t try to do anything else, though. Sitting up had hurt enough; there was no way he’d escape.

The eerie, pricking sensation of being watched had stayed with him as he flew, and Eren couldn’t help the unsettled feeling it left him with; used to being alone, having an audience for anything made him cringe. Just how hideous must he look to a pureblooded human, after all? Obviously bad enough to send people to kill him for it, despite never actually harming anyone in the village. Despite the bland, impassive expression on the human’s face, Eren couldn’t help tucking the span of his wings closer to his body in an attempt to hide in some small manner. If it had been this man staring, it wasn’t as if the dragon could blame him; being up close to an abomination had to be a new experience.

The wind off the lake was cool against his skin as he rode the air currents down, the breadth of his wings blocking the rising sun as he dropped back down into the dungeon and eyed his prisoner hesitantly. On the one hand, it rankled Eren to even consider trusting a human being. On the other, the man was injured and could hardly do anything without his weapons, and he was trapped down here. “Hold still,” Eren said quietly, setting the paper and pencil in the man’s lap as he leaned over. “I’m going to untie you so you can use the pencil.” Green eyes narrowed, he added, “And if you try to stab me with the pencil, I’m throwing you off a cliff.”

Levi wasn’t very happy, the pain finally getting to him, by the time a pencil and piece of paper were placed in his lap. He had to admit he was surprised at how gentle the creature was. He had claws for hands and yet he hadn’t torn the paper or broken the charcoal at all. It was most definitely not what he would expect from the “demon monster” the townspeople had sent him to kill.

But he still rolled his eyes at the creature’s threat and held out his hands for the ropes to be cut off. “Stab you and what?” Levi asked. “Be stuck down here in this death pit until I die of thirst? No thanks.” It occurred to Levi then that, unless the dragon was going to get him out of the pit or bring him food and water, that would be his fate, anyway. Well, part of the deal had been that the thing let him go once he cleaned, so Levi could only hope that he kept his bargain.

Huffing in amusement at the unexpected practicality of the comments, Eren slid one hand under the bound wrists, careful not to cut either rope or skin with the sharp claws that tipped his fingers. With his other hand and minimal effort, he tugged loose the knots in the rope and began to unwind it from the man’s wrists. It would have been easier to cut through with the sharp edges of his claws, but also stupidly wasteful, and Eren didn’t feel like losing a good length of rope for no reason. A moment later and he was done, stepped back and idly coiling the length of rope in his hands. Eyes wary, he muttered, “There. Behave yourself.”

Levi silently took the paper and charcoal, internally shocked at the dragon boy's gentleness and how he conserved his resources. He placed the sheet on the ground - the filthy, dust-covered ground - and began to draw a mop and broom on a corner of the sheet, not wanting to waste the creature’s paper that he obviously didn’t have much of. Levi also drew a bottle with the word "bleach" on it next to the other images. He completely ignored the fact that he was absolutely horrible at art and instead just finished it up and handed it to the boy. "There."

Rope now coiled over his arm, Eren settled into a crouch, scaled feet tucked under him and tail winding around his ankles, and he watched Levi draw. Or… well, he was doing _something_ , but it wasn’t the sort of drawing Eren was used to. Some sort of squiggly shapes were taking form in the corner of the paper, and one eyebrow rose steadily higher at the attempt to convey whatever it was Levi was doing. Finally picking up the sheet, Eren blinked at the scrawled images and thought idly to himself that using his mother’s few remaining sketches as a drawing standard had clearly been a mistake. Noting the human word labeling the odd pear-shape, he squinted at it and muttered, "... Is that a bottle?"

Levi glared at the accusation that his art was bad enough that the creature couldn’t even tell what what a bottle. His art wasn’t _that_ bad. “Yes,” he insisted. “It’s a bottle of bleach. What else would it be?”

Oh, spirits, he didn’t even know how bad he was. Lips pressed tight against the sudden urge to laugh, Eren shook his head. "Uh, nothing!” This was shitty and he was going to get shot at. Ugh. Why was he putting up with some crazy human’s demands again? “Alright, just… hang on. I’ll get it as quick as I can." Glaring a bit, he added, "If I have an arrow in my ass, though, I'm making you yank it out." Then his wings were beating, tossing him up in the air above the tree line. Eren took a breath to steady himself, angled down low over the trees and headed for the human village.

"I'll stick my arrow in your ass," Levi muttered, but he was glad the kid was already flying away because it had to be one of his worst comebacks ever. Honestly, it was embarrassing. But now that he was freed and his captor was gone, he decided to explore this filthy little dungeon he was in. He unknotted the rope around his ankles and set it aside before pushing himself up to a standing position. He stumbled a bit and yelped with the pain, his bruises worse than he’d originally thought, but he’d dealt with far worse before, so he could deal with this. It didn’t take long to explore the tiny little cave in the ground; it was round-ish, made of stone, had lots of cobwebs and dust and dirt, along with branches and leaves from the fall. It was dark and neither the walls nor floor were smooth, but Levi was able to get around by the light from the rising sun outside. There was definitely no way for him to get out with his ribs in this condition, though. If he were healthy, he’d probably be able to climb the walls, but not like this. After his short inspection of his prison, Levi sat back down again, having nothing better to do now than wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Levi's shitty drawing skills [here](http://downtheupstairs.tumblr.com/post/98374890953/levis-crappy-drawing-in-the-sun-on-your-scales).  
> Prettyboy dragon concept art (slightly nsfw) [here](http://khimairan.tumblr.com/post/89348334994/reasons-its-dangerous-to-get-me-excited-about).  
> Tracking/using the tag "fic: sun and pride" on tumblr.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So we got a comment on the first chapter about the narrative being a bit choppy, which happened because we're taking this from an RP to a fic, and we both agreed with that comment so it's something we really tried to work on in this chapter. Hope you enjoy! There's much more to come! :D

The sun was dipping low on the horizon as Eren finally made it back to the sanctuary of dark, familiar trees and crumbling stone walls. A residual ache lingered in his muscles from the rapid flight he'd had to achieve to get out of weapons range; no arrows in his ass, thankfully, but his arms and legs were scraped, bruises forming from where he'd fallen down the stairs of a farmhouse cellar looking for the goddamned supplies. Success, or something close to it; he'd found the requested objects, but not without getting caught and having to fight in very close quarters. If one could call dodging a skillet hurled at his head by an angry human woman ‘fighting.’ Eren was tired enough as he swooped down to the dungeon that he didn't even bother checking for a weapon in the hunter's hands before dropping heavily to the ground, legs unsteady. The large canvas bag clunked loudly on the stone floor as he dropped it and fell to his knees next to it, panting loudly. "There. Your…goddamned cleaning supplies," he managed, rasping and out of breath. Wooden handles stuck out from the top of the bag, the bottom rounded out with as many bottles of the fucking noxious liquid as he'd been able to find. Groaning weakly, he pushed up to his feet again, shaking out first one clawed foot, then the other.

Levi was watching the skies out of boredom, so as soon as the dragon came back, Levi knew. When he landed Levi finally got a good look at him, much better than by the moonlight before. The dragon was… startlingly handsome. He was human, in many aspects. Most of his skin was tan and smooth, though there were areas covered by iridescent green scales, and the majority of his body was shaped like a human’s. The most obviously inhuman aspects would be the huge, scaled wings that emerged from either side of his spine and the long, green tail that lashed around behind him. There were also ears, of course; these odd, frilled things that seemed to shift in the direction of sound like an animal’s, though Levi had never seen an animal with ears quite like these. The creature’s hands and feet seemed at the wrists and ankles like they would be normal and human, but the fingers ended in long claws and the feet seemed almost like raptor talons. But his head was covered in human hair, brown and cut short enough that it wouldn’t be a hassle.

In all, the dragon boy was an odd mix of characteristics, and now that Levi could see them better he couldn’t help but stare a bit. He tried not to be too obvious about it, and he shifted his gaze over to the bag of cleaning supplies after a few moments. He didn’t worry about how the creature was panting or exhausted - it wasn’t Levi’s fault he was out of shape; he was probably sick from all the dirt and mold around here. Levi pushed himself up so he was standing, again with a lot of pain involved, and he shuffled over to the bag to look through it while at the same time trying not to jostle his ribs too much. “Good,” he commented when he saw that everything he’d requested was in there. “Get me a bucket of water, too.”

Distracted by the sting of a long scratch down his arm where a kitchen tool had split open the skin where it met his scales, Eren rolled his eyes, muttering, “A little gratitude wouldn’t kill you, ya know.”

"I wouldn't need to do this if you kept this place clean to begin with," Levi groused.

“Oh whatever, I already told you why.” It was automatic habit to lift his arm, long tongue dragging over the wound and layering it in spit to clean the gash. His other hand wrapped around the bucket handle, wings flaring a little as he bounced on his heels. Despite the aches and pains in his body, Eren was already resigned to playing fetch for his obnoxious human ‘guest’ until the cleaning fit was over; hopefully it wouldn’t be long.

"Holy shit!" Levi shouted when he saw what the dragon was doing. "How gross are you?! Did you just _lick_ your own blood?! How are you not dead yet?!"

Going stiff at the sudden shout, Eren stared back, brows drawing together incredulously. “What the fuck is your _problem_?! It’s not closing, what else am I supposed to do with it?!” Licking the wound cleaned it and spread the healing solution in his spit, and this fuckass wanted him to stop? Yeah, no.

"You need to wash it and clean it and put a fucking bandage on it so it'll heal, you idiot!" Levi yelled. He couldn’t believe what this creature was doing. How had he not died of infection already?

Eren snarled, teeth bared as he snapped, "I'm a fucking dragon, jackass, my saliva makes things heal faster! Why do you think I'm doing it?! I don't need bandages for something that'll be gone by tomorrow, anyways- do you want your damned water or not?!"

Levi stopped being angry and instead just frowned. "Your spit heals shit?” he asked, astounded that that was even possible. “That's fucking awesome."

Stymied by the sudden tone shift, Eren blinked, hesitantly dropping the aggressive expression. “I, uh… yes.” Sulking a little, the young dragon grumbled, “I’m a naturekin type, even if I’m fucked-up and half human. What, did you just stumble up here with a sword and literally no fucking idea of what dragons can do to people?”

Levi rolled his eyes and looked at the dragon with an unamused look. "I didn't exactly go to a 'conventional' school. And even if I did, I doubt they’d teach us about dragons. I’d never even _heard_ of dragons until yesterday."

"Well, I never went to 'school' either, but this is basic shit. We're born with an affinity to an element, and it determines our breath and our colors. See?" One green and gold wing stretched out in example, faint leaf-like dapples showing in the pattern of the membrane. The mention that Levi had never heard of dragons, though, made Eren stare for a moment. They’d really been wiped out that thoroughly…? "I. Anyway. Yeah, my spit heals shit, among other things."

Levi sighed. "Well, of _course_ you'd know that shit. You're one of them. Can't expect me to know. I doubt any of those idiots down in the village have any fucking clue about all this." He tried not to stare at the beautiful outstretched wing, though it was difficult not to. It was gorgeous. He wanted nothing more than to touch it, but he had a feeling he'd lose his hand if he tried.

"I... guess they wouldn’t." Exhaling roughly, Eren lifted his shoulders and tried to let it go. "You humans never seem to know anything when you come after us, except that we're 'monsters' to kill." His mother had never harmed a single hair on anyone's head, but that hadn't stopped them from coming in the middle of the night and... Flinching, the half-dragon drew his limbs in, shaking his head to dispel the thought. "Whatever. I'll get your water." Ignoring the ache in his muscles, Eren leapt up again, coasting on the sun-warm air before circling out over the cliff drop-off some yards away from his makeshift home. The lake spread out blue and clean beneath him, the cold, clean smell sharp in his nose. He let his feet play in the water as he swooped down to fill the bucket and pushed the wisps of memory to the back of his mind. It didn’t matter, couldn’t be changed. Only the cold water and warm air were here with him right now, and that was what Eren focused on until he reluctantly circled back to the dungeon and the strange, short man stuck inside it.

Levi could tell a sensitive subject when he heard one, so he decided not to respond to the whole 'monster' thing. He wasn't in the mood for a lecture or sob story anyways. He just let the hybrid go and get some water. While the boy was off, Levi had a thought that he shared when the dragon came back. "Would your spit heal my ribs?"

There was a fine art to landing without spilling any of the water, and Eren had only just set the bucket down when he heard the human’s sudden question. “No, it doesn’t work like that,” he replied after a moment. “It needs to go into an open wound, only fixes things that can be solved with skin growth.” Thinking for a moment- he didn’t ever explain this kind of thing to people, really- he continued, “I mean if you had a wound that had opened your chest, my spit would help with that, but bones grow really slowly, so it wouldn't do much except speed it by a little bit, and keep you from bleeding out in the meanwhile." Looking at his arm, Eren was pleased to see the skin had sealed, at least, though it was still an angry pink color. "And my spit can’t cure a disease or anything, either. It just speeds up what the body can do.” There were other things, maybe, that Eren could offer as a healer, but he was far from trusting this human mercenary with that knowledge.

That was annoying. Levi's ribs were really bothering him, and as much as the idea of some random half-dragon half-human spitting on his open wounds made him want to vomit, if it would have healed them he would have sucked it up and tried it. Levi had broken his ribs before, but that didn't mean it was ever fun. "Well, since you're fine you can help me clean," he said, going over to the bag and taking out the broom. He figured the floor would be the best place for him to start, since he couldn’t reach his arms up very well.

At this point, he wasn’t even surprised by the snippy order and that in itself was confusing as fuck. Huffing irritably, Eren didn't bother to argue, knowing he was in fact in better health than the injured human male. ...what the hell was his name, anyways? Asking would be admitting defeat, though. Tapping the claws of his toes on the floor, Eren couldn't resist a little snark as he asked, “I've been helping this whole time, what the hell is different now?"

"You can start scrubbing the walls," Levi told the dragon, ignoring the snark and getting a bar of soap from the bag of supplies. "I'm willing to bet they're not supposed to be this black. Start with a soapy wet rag. You'll have to rinse it out fucking often but that's your own fault for letting it get this bad."

“Oh, fuck off,” Eren groused under his breath, tail plucking a wad of cloth out of the bag of supplies and watching Levi mess with the water and soap. “Yeah, yeah, I’m such a bad dragon. What the hell are you doing?”

Levi huffed out a laugh at the ‘bad dragon’ comment, as if not doing his chores was what made for a bad dragon rather than a murderous instinct like the villagers seemed to think. "I'm sweeping all the fucking dirt I can before scrubbing the floors," Levi answered when asked what he was doing. He’d picked up the broom and was starting in one of the corners. "They're supposed to be stone, you know. Not dirt."

Wings shifting restlessly at the odd noise of the other male laughing, Eren raised one skeptical eyebrow at the slow progress of bristles of straw slowly wearing away at the dirt on the floor. “That seems… really dumb,” he finally muttered, thoroughly unimpressed with human cleaning methods. Having been told to wash the walls, he dunked the rags into the slippery, odd-smelling water and chose a random stretch of stone wall. Despite the man’s accusations, he wasn’t some uneducated heathen that didn’t understand scrubbing; he’d just never seen a reason to bother doing it down here. Setting the rag hesitantly to smooth stone, Eren began trying to scrub at the residue and stains.

Levi swept for a minute before deciding to check on the boy. "Put some elbow grease into it," he ordered when he saw the dragon’s weak attempts at cleaning. They weren’t _really_ weak, but the kid obviously wasn’t as passionate about cleanliness as Levi was, so he didn’t look like he was trying as hard as Levi’s standards required. Levi had high standards, and he wasn’t about to compromise on them just because his life was dependent on this dragon’s mercy.

Teeth clenching, a feral growl rumbled in his throat before Eren bent to the task, using both arms and his shoulder muscles to scrub fiercely at the surface; dirt and water and bits of debris coming free under. "Asshole."

Levi just chuckled at the insult. "That’s not my name,” he told the dragon. “But it’s not the worst thing I've been called."

Eren scowled, ears moving in catlike flicks at the side of his head as he ignored Levi in favor of expanding the pale grey spot he'd uncovered. Curiosity was a clawing itch in the back of his mind and with an inward sigh he finally gave in, growling almost irritably, “Then what is your name?”

Levi continued to try to sweep away the dirt, but most of it would need to be scrubbed off later. After he finished, he took out a new rag and laid it out to sit on - like hell was he sitting on these disgusting floors now that he had another option - and rested a bit. His ribs were killing him and he was getting hungry, but he didn't want to ask for food. That would be a sign of weakness. Instead he just answered, “Levi. What about you?” He assumed that this kid had a name, at least.

Washing deep, pervasive dirt and dried muck from years of rain was harder than it seemed like it should be. After spending a ridiculous amount of time clean just one of the four long walls, the rag was blackened despite repeated rinsing and even replacing the wash-water. Perhaps because of that, Eren was perversely proud of his efforts as he stood back and looked at it. Snorting when he got a look at the man primly sitting on a cloth, Eren flopped uncaring onto the floor, stretching his wings out behind him. “Levi, huh.” It was an odd name, interesting to say, and he repeated it a few times in his mind to get a feeling for it. Even if he was far from trusting any human being near him, most of his anger had mellowed to a low simmer of irritation. The giving of a name had some weight to it, by the culture his mother had taught him, but a half-breed living alone in the wilderness didn’t have much in the way of honor or culture to worry about. “Eren,” he said quietly, toes flexing as he worked out a kink in the muscle. “My name is Eren.” He considered for a moment before asking, "Will you need bedding or food? I don't know what you can eat."

It was a strangely human-sounding name, though Levi supposed the kid was half-human. He was surprised when Eren started asking about food. "If you're offering," Levi responded, still not wanting to seem weak by admitting to Eren that he wanted or needed it. "Any meat or fish or fruit or bread will do. But if it's meat or fish, cook it first." There was no way he'd eat uncooked meat. That was just disgusting.

"You're not going to heal if you're not eating," Eren said, refusing to outright admit he was trying to be nice. Considering the list he’d been given, he replied quietly, "It’s the wrong season for hunting, too many babies still need caring for. I can get some fish, but you'll have to figure out cooking it on your own." Fire wasn’t something Eren was willing to fuck with, and he didn’t know what 'bread' was but it sounded dumb. "Fruit's easy enough."

"I can cook with just a stick and a fire, no problem,” Levi assured him, willing to take what he was given at this point. He would go fishing himself if he had to, even though it’d kill his ribs. If Eren was offering, though, that was better. Levi could cook his own food. But he didn’t want to push his luck too much, since he was still technically at Eren’s mercy, so he added, “Fruit's fine for now though."

Wincing slightly at the idea of Levi setting fires, Eren sighed. "Alright." Stretching as he stood, Eren wandered over to the wall he'd cleaned, jumping upwards to latch on with the heavy talons on his feet. The grip of his claws and the strength in his limbs made it easy to climb to the top, tail waving in the air as he held his balance carefully. Peering over the edge, he studied the underbrush for a moment. _Maybe… ah. This one._ Reaching over the cracked stone, he cupped his palm around a small blue-green vine growing in the dirt. The warmth of clean, living energy under his hand was a relief, a breath of freshness through his inner self; that made it easier to call up his Breath, a sun-warm rush that coiled in his chest. It glowed when it left his mouth, a long sigh that sent thin phantoms of green light to curl around the little plant.

Life and energy flowing directly from himself to it, immediately a sense of delight began humming in the tiny sapling's form; new leaves and long vines spiraling out from the source as its roots grew down deeply, following the urge of power as the naturekin dragon guided its development. With some coaxing, Eren eased back, climbing down the wall one-handed while the other cradled the vines growing to follow him. Fat, healthy leaves spiraled out from its stems, small flowers swelling before they curled tightly into themselves and grew round and rosy instead. Finally, dragging in another lungful of air, Eren stepped back and considered his accomplishment proudly. Heavy red fruit dangled from the vine, enough for a good-sized meal and then some; it would do, for now. "That should work. I'll get one of my winter blankets for you later."

Levi nearly growled when he saw Eren climbing up the newly-cleaned wall with his filthy talons but decided he'd just make the brat clean it again later. He sat there, waiting for Eren to bring food back, but he most definitely wasn't expecting the kid to climb down the wall with a vine growing with him. Levi gaped. What the hell? He remembered what Eren had said earlier about elements but... "Holy fuck." He didn't even realize he was still staring in awe. The fruit that grew there looked delicious, but Levi couldn't make himself move. He was distantly thinking about how if his ribs were healed he could climb up the vine to escape, but mostly he would just thinking how fucking insane this was. How was this at all possible? Did Eren just make a plant grow out of nothing?

It wasn't particularly impressive for what a naturekin dragon could do- a fully grown pureblood could halt death itself and breath new creations onto the Earth- but for his age and not having formal training, Eren was pretty damned pleased with his results. Grinning, bright-eyed with pride at what he'd managed, Eren turned and realized Levi was staring at him. Nervously swallowing, ears fluttering, he asked hesitantly, "W-what?"

"That thing!” Levi exclaimed, pointing at the vine. “That's fucking insane! You can just _make_ food?!"

Flustered, Eren shifted on his feet. "U-uh, well, the plant made the food, I just helped it grow."

Levi didn’t care about the technicalities. "If you can just _make_ food, why don't you use that?!" Levi asked, getting angry. He'd grown up starving more nights than none, and knowing that there were people out there who could just... conjure it up whenever they wanted pissed him off. "Do you know how many people are starving?!"

Shock ran cold over his body, stalling the anger Eren thought should be there. Eyes wide, startled at the outburst, all he could do was stare. "I... use it? How am I supposed to...?" There was the anger, belated and rushing through him until the spines of his scales lifted across his shoulders, wings mantling and teeth bared in a snarl. "How the fuck would you like _me_ to remedy that, huh?! I can't get anywhere near a human being without them trying to kill me- hell, you wouldn't even be up here if you didn't want the price for my fucking head!"

"If they knew you could keep them from starving, they'd worship you!” Levi yelled. “They'd give you anything you want! You could be a king, you idiot! But instead you let us starve!" He scoffed and turned his head. "Maybe you _are_ a monster..."

The bone of his jaw tightened until his pulse was throbbing in his teeth. Eren felt his claws dig into his hands as they curled into fists, couldn’t give a shit as blood dripped between his fingers. "You think because I made _one plant_ grow, that I could keep an entire fucking village fed? Or more?" Furious, the dragon hissed through the clench of his teeth, "Oh, sure, they'd _worship_ me once I had something to give them! You fucking selfish _parasites_ will do anything to keep yourselves alive, all while slaughtering anything or anyone that isn’t like you! Why the hell would I ever want to save such a disgusting species, even if I could?!"

Levi didn't cow to the dragon boy, just sat where he was and looked up at him without fear. "So you'd rather live alone, sitting in your own filth for the rest of your life?” he asked. “ _That_ sounds like a great plan. I'm sure you _never_ get lonely, right? If you could take the chance to be a king, why the fuck wouldn't you take it? Yeah, humans suck. That's the way it is. But they could still make you a king."

"I wouldn't be _lonely_ if scum like you hadn't killed the rest of us! Why do you think there aren't any dragons left?! We never did anything to you and you fucking wiped us out! And now you want me to be _kind_?! You want me to play at being a _king_ to the same people that cut my mother into pieces while she lay helpless, unable to even defend herself?! _I WATCHED THEM CHEER EACH OTHER ON WHILE SHE WAS BLEEDING OUT IN FRONT OF THEM!_ " Eyes wet, shaking all over, Eren sucked in ragged breaths before saying in a frighteningly level voice, "Go fuck yourself, hunter. Your species deserves every ounce of suffering that can be visited upon it."

Levi still refused to cower or show any pity for what the boy had been through. All he did was ask, "Why don't you kill them then?" That's what Levi was doing. Everyone who'd ever hurt him, who'd ever hurt anyone he loved. He was taking care of them, one at a time. And each time he did, Levi made sure his victim regretted what they had done to him before he granted them the mercy of death.

The words made him pause, wings still out and bristled behind him, nearly spanning the walls. He did want to kill them sometimes; all of them, a mindless slaughter against weaker and more feeble creatures that should never have been able to ruin his own kind like they had. Eren couldn't even count how often the hatred had spilled up, boiling in his blood, demanding the give of flesh under his claws; demanding another taste of fear, to see the moment as they realized the punishment they'd brought down upon themselves. But she'd... his mother had wanted him to be _better_ than that. Mouth curling bitterly, Eren pressed a hand to the cold stone wall, anchoring himself against the hot rush of his temper. It took long moments to pull up an answer, voice heavy and quiet "I made sure they couldn't hurt anyone else again. That... that has to be enough. I'm not what they call me. I'm _not_."

Levi finally pushed himself up so he could go over and pick a fruit from the vine. He started eating, not minding the dragon boy's anger at all. If Eren wanted to kill him, there wasn’t much Levi could do to stop him, but he was starting to think that Eren wouldn’t want to do that.

The fruit was fucking delicious, and Levi kept himself from letting out a highly inappropriate moan at the taste. It also quenched his thirst, with how juicy it was. It was practically a sexual experience, but Levi made himself keep his mind on the conversation. "Well, you're better than me, kid." He leaned back against the clean wall and swallowed another bite before he continued. "Hell, I'm probably more of a monster than you are. Ain't that ironic?"

Eyes fixed on the far corner, Eren breathed in carefully, let it out slowly to force himself calm. Levi was moving past him, eating, and that was... that was good, wasn't it? He'd grown the vine just for that, knowing it would provide for days at a time. Slowly, the bristle-scaled wings eased down, folding against his back as he quieted. Surprised at the sudden admission, Eren lifted his head to watch the other man, finally asking, "Why would you think that?"

Levi shrugged. "Look at you, you're not hurting anyone. You just mind your own business even though you could probably kill us all if you wanted. You got your revenge and ended it there." He took another bite and swallowed it before continuing. "'S not the same for me. I kill for money, remember?" Sure, he was still on his way to revenge, but Levi had killed a lot more people than were part of his plan for vengence. He probably wouldn’t stop being a mercenary even after he got his revenge. It was a good job. It paid well, and he didn’t have to put up with annoying people. Maybe that made him a monster, but most of the time Levi just didn’t care.

Eren sighed heavily, a humorless smile tugging up the side of his mouth before he finally answered. "I remember. I'm not that nice, your ribs are broken because of my traps." Easing down to his haunches, he shrugged. "To be honest, I don't see the point a lot of the time. I mean, I'm still... _angry_ , but it wouldn't do any good. There are always more of you, and eventually someone would destroy me and that'd be it. I don't think there are any other dragons left on this continent, even if I barely count." Eren couldn’t say what made him keep speaking, but he added quietly, “I don’t even know how many there are left in the world at all.”

Levi chewed more fruit as he mulled over what Eren said. "Well, _I’ve_ never heard of any other dragons but I’m not exactly an expert,” he told him. “And I think protecting your territory isn't the same as killing people. I wouldn't have fallen in here if the shitty townsfolk had told me more than 'It's a monster! It's a dragon!' How was I supposed to know you could build traps?”

Considering how little this guy knew before he came up here, it wasn’t a surprise. “You're just lucky I hadn't decided to put spikes under the traps yes," Eren replied, smirking darkly. Brows lifting incredulously, he scoffed. "What, did you think dragons are thick, plodding beasts like your farm animals? My mother could draw better than you and she was forty feet long."

Levi allowed himself to chuckle at the insult and smirk before he looked Eren over. "Well, I must say, the rumors didn’t do you justice." Hey, he may be a dragon, but Levi had to admit that Eren was kinda hot.

Cocking his head, Eren opened his mouth, then hesitated before he closed it again, frowning slightly. He hadn't expected the man to be so... playful. It was odd, making something tug at his guts, but he couldn't place why. Finally he shrugged. "Sorry to disappoint, but I'm really even a very good example of a dragon. I guess no one noticed that, in the village?"

“I wouldn’t use the word ‘disappointed,’” Levi said with a smirk. "And nope." He emphasized the ‘p’ and went to take another bite of fruit before realizing he’d already finished it, so instead he just continued. "They said, 'go kill that monster and we'll give you money' so I said 'sure.'"

Again, that odd smile. What was that about? Eren shifted, feeling oddly… unsettled. Levi’s orders shouldn't have been funny, but Eren still found himself chuckling. "Normal dragons are huge and completely scaly. I'm... well, I'm broken. I can't shift either way, being a half-breed."

Levi shrugged. "Still got magic fruit-growing power and wings. What else do you need?"

Mouth falling open, Eren stared at him. "Uh. I guess that's... one way to look at it."

Shrugging again, Levi went over to pick up the mop. "Back to work," he announced. "You have to clean your tracks from where you climbed that wall again before you can move on to the next one."

Eren had many loud protests to that, most of which had to do with a lack of gratitude for having climbed the wall in the first place and ending with, "And my feet are not that dirty!" They were that dirty but he ignored that, as he usually did.

Levi ignored all of Eren's protests and began to mop the floor, though it would obviously need some heavy scrubbing to get it completely clean. "If you don't want to clean," he finally told Eren. "You can always kill me." He knew the dragon boy enough now to know he'd never choose that option, which was exactly why he chose that as his only out. Not like Levi had the current power to force him to clean, but a stern voice had gotten him places before and was always worth a shot.

Gaping in insult at Levi, Eren grabbed his rag again, seething quietly, "Ooooh, don't _tempt_ me." Nonetheless, without considering the idea that he could fly away at any time, he returned to scrubbing. This wall was going to fucking _sparkle_ by the time he was done.

Levi smirked in satisfaction at his victory and kept on with his work. This kid wasn't so bad after all. He just needed to be cleaned up a little. And so did his place. Dear _God_ was it disgusting.

Sheer temper and determination got Eren through cleaning off his footprints- the highest of which he had to hover in midair to reach- and two more of the remaining three sides. By then his arms were throbbing, and the natural light had dimmed considerably. His own vision was good enough to still see, but  he was surprised Levi could continue, considering how poor human sight was. "Hey, aren't we going to stop for the night? You can't even tell where the dirt is anymore."

Levi got caught up in his cleaning, like he had a tendency to do. He barely even registered the pain in his ribs or the darkness until Eren spoke up, breaking him out of his daze. He looked around, noticing how dark it was. "Yeah," he said softly, still sort of out of it. He pulled himself back together. "Yeah," he repeated more normally. "My side hurts like a bitch anyway."

"Dumbass," Eren muttered, a bewildered smile on the edge of his mouth; this guy should know better, seriously. Even with the gathering gloom, though, there was an impressive difference in the areas Levi had been scrubbing. Gathering the dirty rags and the water bucket to go wash out one last time, he paused before taking flight to say, "I'll get you a blanket when I'm done with this. Hang on a minute."

Levi glared at the insult but chose, for some reason he couldn't explain, to ignore it as Eren left. He just went to sit on one of the clean areas of the floor and wait, enjoying the breeze from Eren's wings helping to cool him down after sweating with the work of cleaning. Levi wanted nothing more than a bath right now, but that didn't seem likely with the way he was trapped down here, and he also realized then just how tired he was. His side really did hurt a lot, too; he shouldn’t have been working so hard. So Levi just waited for Eren to come back, hoping his blanket was comfortable and that he'd remember to bring a pillow, too.

After making multiple trips while they were working, it was habit to rinse and scrub the dirt out of the rags, making sure the bucket was free of grime before draping the scraps of cloth over the rim to dry. The thigh-level water was cold and Eren shivered as he flew back upwards, heading to his rooms and setting the cleaning supplies off to the side. The nest he’d made in the center of the room he'd slept in had only two blankets stretched over the woven branches for padding, with one more tossed in for the colder nights. The shelf had his spares, but as he pulled them down, dust flew in his face, making him cough. Levi would probably have a fit... without particularly thinking about why, Eren took the blanket outside and shook it out thoroughly, going so far as to fly up with it and batter the dust from the fibers with harsh beats of his wings.

Feeling more tired than he could recall being in a long time, he finally dropped back down into the dungeon, yawning behind one hand.

Levi was yawning when Eren came back with... apparently just a blanket. He pursed his lips for a second before he got up and went over to the dragon boy. Finding a moderately clean area of the floor, Levi tried to lay down on the hard stone, but he was unable to find a comfortable position with his broken ribs. He huffed in displeasure and stood and went to Eren again, this time grabbing the boy’s hand and dragging him over towards where he'd left the blanket. "Sit," he ordered.

Expecting to be able to return to his nest-bed and sleep, Eren waited a moment to make sure Levi was settled, only to blink owlishly as he was grabbed. Wow, human skin was soft, the fingers around his wrist thinner and more delicate than his own; it was distracting enough that he let himself be dragged over to the clean floor space Levi had been laying on. Both too tired and too used to being ordered around by the small human to argue, Eren squinted but nonetheless crouched in his usual fashion, long double-jointed legs folding under him and tail coming to rest around his ankles. "What's the matter?"

Levi frowned at Eren's odd squatting. That would not make a good pillow. "No," he said. "Actually sit. Or lie down. I'm guessing you don't have any pillows or you would have brought one - unless you're actually just a complete shitheaded host - so you're my pillow. I can't just lie on the stone with my ribs broken." Ok, so he’d slept on hard ground in much worse condition before, but it had never been pleasant. And for some reason - maybe it was seeing how much Eren didn’t want to kill anyone - Levi though he could trust him, at least a little.

Tired blue-green eyes bewildered, Eren sputtered. "What the hell? I have a bed and I want to go back to it.” A pause, one ear twitching. “...What's a pillow?" Still, Levi did have a point. Broken ribs probably hurt like hell and despite a part of his brain saying _'he earned it,'_ Eren couldn’t find any genuine desire to cause him more pain. It wasn’t as if Eren wasn’t used to sleeping wherever he curled up, anyways, and if he was close to Levi, the human couldn’t set up anything sneaky like a trap of his own. Heaving a sigh, Eren flopped backwards onto the stone, legs stretching out and wings folding out to the sides. "Fine. I don't fucking care anymore, do whatever you want."

Though he was glad at his success, Levi didn't show it. Instead, he just laid down perpendicular to Eren and tried to find a place to lay his head. God _damn_ this boy was ripped. Probably just as much Levi himself. A weird dragon-human hybrid should not be allowed to be so hot. Levi managed to contain his dick because a slight movement jostled his broken ribs, and he finally decided to just go ahead and put his head down on the boy's chest - though a bit higher so it was on Eren's chest and not on the abs that we nearly as rock hard as the floor. He tried to settle into a comfortable position, and then he noticed the layer of grime covering the boy's skin. "When was the last time you took a bath?" he asked, just a hint of the disgust he was feeling evident in his voice.

It was weird, holding still as Levi curled up against him. Eren hadn't had anyone this close to him in a very long time, could only just remember curling up in the coils of his mother's massive violet body, sleeping warm against her scales. This was very, very different. Levi was smaller, body tight and lean, and he kept wiggling around, chin propped up on some part of Eren's chest or stomach. The brush of dark, soft hair tickled against the skin and Eren’s abdominal muscles clenched slightly in response. Feeling flushed and strange for no reason he could name, Eren shifted his legs and muttered distractedly, "Uh, I think yesterday..."

"You're lucky you're warm and I'm tired," Levi mumbled, already starting to drift off despite his disgust at how dirty the kid was. Then again, it'd only been two days, which wasn't terrible. It was actually the same as Levi, since he hadn't had an opportunity since then. But how was this kid so warm? Fuck, he was like a fireplace. It was soothing, especially with the dungeon starting to get cold without the sun to warm it. It didn't take Levi long to drift off, forgetting how fitful a sleeper he tended to be.

Snorting derisively at the comment, Eren held back a reply that if anyone was lucky, it was the bossy asshole who was using him as a head cushion instead of being eaten or tossed off a cliff. For a few minutes, Eren watched the stars slowly coming into view high above, remembering when he'd been too young to know how to find shelter on his own and had slept in the open, only the naturally green and brown hues of his body to hide him from a predator's discovery. It had been a while, and he hadn’t had the luxury of caring about stars back then. Soft, even breaths tickled over his skin as Levi dropped off to sleep, oddly comforting in an alien way. Eren yawned, tongue curling in his mouth before he let his eyes drift closed and dozed off.

It didn't take very long for Levi's dreams to turn dark. He should have expected this, with how often it happened, yet he never did. The memories he was able to hide during his waking hours slipped out of the shadows and dripped out of the cracks demanding his mind's attention until they consumed him. Overpowered by these memories and still unconscious as he was,  Levi didn't realize when his body began to twitch, to shake, to stop breathing completely one minute and gasp in lungfuls of air the next, to try to crumple into something small and then flail out the best it can without shifting his ribs too badly. At least his body was still protecting his ribs. That was pretty much the only thing he could be grateful for.

Survival had demanded he become a light sleeper, and it didn't take much of Levi's movements before Eren's eyes snapped open, muscles tensing in anticipation of a threat. All Eren found was the man curled up against him, twitching and starting to hyperventilate in his sleep. _Shit_. Eren could easily admit that he had the social experience of a prehistoric rock, but night terrors were a familiar idea to him; it wasn’t hard to see that whatever was happening behind Levi's eyelids was something that he'd rather escape. Fretting at his lower lip with his teeth, the young half-dragon eased one arm under Levi's head to allow him to shift onto his side, facing the smaller human form. With no experience but his mother's example and no clear idea of what he was doing, Eren curled closed, one wing stretching open over the both of them. Green and gold membrane a veil against the sky, body curled protectively close, Eren pressed his brow carefully to Levi's and began to hum low in his throat, one of the lullabies his mother had sung for him.

Somewhere in the recesses of Levi's mind a song began to play. It started off quiet, almost imagined, but it slowly grew louder, louder until it was all he can hear. Louder, somehow, than the screams and yells, but though it should shatter his eardrums it was still a comfort. It crashed over his mind like a wave, cresting somewhere high above him and then splashed through, flooding the memories and washing them away but at the same time not drowning Levi himself. He felt like he was moving with the waves, rocking to the beat of the song, even though in reality he had simply gone still and calm. His breaths took on the song's rhythm, steadying out peacefully as Levi relaxed into the warmth around him. It was a feeling he couldn’t place, particularly not in the unconscious state of his slumber, but a distant part of Levi's brain recognized something instinctual he'd never been able to piece together before. For the first time, he felt something his soul feels is akin to home.

Eren didn't count how long he spent curled up around the smaller body, half asleep as he hummed and crooned the intricate words of his mother's lullabies. He wasn’t great at speaking the dialect, didn't have the time to learn from her, but he remembered the songs at least. The sky tilted slowly above them, new starts showing before Levi finally settled, breathing peacefully and relaxing in Eren's careful hold. He felt so very small, a direct contrast to how forceful and unyielding his personality was; the sharp, acerbic tongue giving no hint to the trusting curve of the man’s sleeping spine. Human and fragile with cold, steel eyes, as if the world had done its worst many times over. Eren understood that feeling a little too well, the way cruelty shaped a person with the scars it left on them. A part of his heart he'd hardened against human beings cracked just a little towards the figure curled up against him, wondering what it was that this man had gone through to hold the same cynicism as Eren himself.

Watching Levi sleep, memorizing the surprisingly delicate lines of his face and hair, Eren continued to sing quietly, guarding the man through the night. It was long hours before he finally drifted off, his entire long body wrapped in careful coils near or around Levi's without pressing his ribs and their noses still almost touching.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Friendly reminder that you can find us on tumblr at [downtheupstairs](http://downtheupstairs.tumblr.com/) (ennuithereyet) and [khimairan](http://khimairan.tumblr.com/)!
> 
> We're also tracking the tag "fic: sun and pride" on tumblr, and you'll be able to find some art for the fic there (including Levi's terrible artwork from last chapter!).


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys may have noticed the rating change and the new tags. Yes, there is some sexy time in this monster of a chapter (17.8k holy shit) and it's very explicit. We're not sorry. As a heads up, though, since some of you commented about 'when Eren gets turned human'-- that doesn't happen. Now or ever. He is what he is, and the dragon parts are always going to be there. If slightly cross-species love squicks you out, here is your warning, but this is not a story that says you can only be loved if you look perfect/like everyone else, and neither of us was willing to play into that idea.
> 
> Aside from that, please enjoy as much as we enjoyed writing it. <3

Levi woke feeling oddly rested. He hadn't felt this rested in a long time. He couldn’t remember where he was at first, but before he even opened his eyes the memories came back to him. Hunting a dragon, falling in the pit, _talking_ to a dragon… There was an odd warmth around Levi that he didn’t remember from the night before, so he slowly blinked open to see his face is mere inches from the dragon in front of him. He shifted a little so that he was on his back, but he was cocooned in Eren's wing and he was unsure if he'd be able to get out without waking him or hurting either of them. Levi's ribs still burned, and he wasn’t sure how much weight the boy's wings could take, knowing that birds at least have hollow bones that are pretty breakable. So, rather than moving, Levi took the time to inspect the wings, a soft glow of sunlight making it through the cocoon and allowing him to fully see the pattern of scales, the way they seemed to glean in the sunlight like a piece of gold or... something green and reflective, Levi was never very great at fanciful descriptions. They were almost fantastical, Levi thought, like there was no way they could actually be real if they weren’t so close and so warm. He tentatively reached a hand up and brushed the scales, needing to satisfy this strange desire to know how they felt. They felt almost delicate one by one, but Levi recognized the pattern from chain mail and armor and knew that though each piece may be small and thin, they could still be unbelievably strong. But still, he felt the need to be gentle. He told himself it was so as not to wake the boy, but the nearly reverent expression on his face showed his true reasons, the wonder behind the touch that would never dare to try to destroy such beauty.

A long night spent awake and watchful left Eren tired enough not to wake easily, once he was finally asleep. Drifting in a dreamless state of rest and contentment, at first the light brush over nerves wasn't enough to drag him out of it. The third or fourth repetition tugged at him, though, and a vague awareness of his surroundings began to filter in. Smell and hearing tuned first, the distinct human quality of Levi’s smell aligning to his memories of the day before; the human male is close, and Eren remembered enough to not be surprised by that. Something was running lightly over the skin at his wing bones, tracing the scales and tickling a little. Eyes still closed, Eren giggled, face turning to press against his arm as his lips stretched into a grin. God, he was sleepy, why did he have to move... A wide yawn cracked his jaw, the taste of basil and elm leaves on his breath; it was always some kind of plant, seeming to change based on the season, and he'd gotten used to it. "Mmmnn." Blinking his eyes open, Eren stared blankly at Levi's face and then the hand on his wing without really comprehending why it was there. Did Levi need his attention? Was Eren squishing him, tail wrapped around his legs like it was? "Hn? Wha’ is it?"

Levi had frozen when he heard giggles, but didn't move his hand from the wing. He tried to stay as still as possible while also looking at Eren out of the corner of his eye. But the sleepy voice told him that Eren wasn't angry at the touch, so Levi quickly retracted his hand. He turned to look at Eren's face and... Holy shit. The word 'cute' ran through Levi's mind for the first time in his life. He cleared his throat. "I was just trying to get out of your wings without waking you up," he lied. Normally he was a pretty good liar but... that was pretty bad. It practically made him cringe.

Eren hadn’t spent enough time watching humans at close range to be very good at reading them yet; even so, Levi sounded odd, somehow not quite… _right_ , was all Eren could think to explain it. Then again, he was a bad-tempered, grumpy tyrant as far as Eren could tell and perhaps it was the quieter tone of voice that sounded so odd. The comment distracted him, though, ear frills unfurling and tilting forward in attention and concern beside his still-sleepy face. "Oh. Sorry." With another yawn, he eased up on his elbows, wings folding back away from the warm cocoon they'd formed over both himself and the human. Sitting up required him to untangle the lithe coils of his tail from Levi's ankles, and wow but Eren didn’t remember curling up this close the night before. Embarrassed, he rubbed the back of his neck, glancing over Levi’s form. "Um… are you okay?"

Levi hadn't even realized quite how much Eren had wrapped around him, startling when the tail uncoiled from his ankles. He hid it well and sat up as the dragon boy pulled his wings back. Eren's question caught him off guard as well, and Levi was confused by the flush that found its way to his cheeks when he remembered being mesmerized by Eren's scale and abs and - not cute, _not cute_ \- face. He quickly turned his face away to avoid embarrassment and huffed, "I'm _fine_." He stood and brushed the dust from his pants before grabbing the blanket and folding it, creasing and uncreasing it until it was perfect.

Watching the blanket-folding in bemusement, Eren flicked his ears back, the delicate spines pulled in together in a visible manifestation of his confusion. "O...kay." Pushing to his feet, he stretched, groaning as his joints popped from having slept in the same position for too long. Standing on the very tips of his clawed feet, the joints of his ankles fully extended, he lifted his arms up into the air. The batlike wings stretched out behind him to their full, massive span on either side. His spine cracked loudly in five or six places, making him sigh as he slumped back down to his normal posture. The faint tug of his bladder then reminded him it had been a good long since he'd attended his business, and like as not, Levi was in even worse shape. Considering his distaste for dirt, he probably wanted to bathe as well. Without bothering to analyze his reasons for wanting to offer more hospitality, Eren said blandly, "You probably need to piss, and we're both filthy. If I take you down to the lake, will you behave yourself?"

Levi tried to convince himself he wasn't jealous of the height as he watched Eren stretch. No, he wasn’t jealous. Tall people just had more area to stab if they pissed Levi off. Such as when they made fun of him for being short. He was thrown off guard by Eren's question again, but it reminded him that he really did need to piss like fuck. He'd learned how to hold his bladder for long periods of time, but he still had to piss sometime. He took offense to the actual question, though. "Haven't I behaved perfectly so far?"

Why was he being glared at? Scowling in return, Eren replied, "Yeah, but you've been stuck in here so far, too. It's open ground out there, so who knows what a human like you will think up to try. Although, the lake is down a cliffside and good luck making it back to civilization on your own with your ribs like that."

"Yeah," Levi said sarcastically. "Like I'm going to jump at the chance to go back to the town and get lynched for being unsuccessful." He'd meant the words to be a reassurance that he wouldn't run away, but since he'd forgotten to mention that he wasn't planning on killing Eren anymore it might not have been as successful a reassurance as he'd hoped. But, Levi being Levi, he thought he'd expressed himself perfectly.

Teeth gritting at the shitty attitude, Eren growled under his breath, "Wow, you're a real ray of sunshine." Honestly, he didn't know why he was surprised. The fact that they'd sorta gotten along a little better didn't change anything, did it?  Despite the snark, his temper wasn't trying come roaring awake just yet; it was too early in the morning and he needed to pee too bad to bother getting in a fight about going to do so. Shrugging, Eren rocked on his toes, wanting to leave. "Up to you. Yes or no?"

Levi mimicked Eren’s shrug. He’d never exactly been a ‘ray of sunshine’ at any point in his life, and he wasn’t about to start now. He didn’t understand why Eren was getting pissy all of a sudden, but it wasn’t his problem. "Yeah, let's go."

Eren told himself that wasn't disappointment sinking through his guts and made himself walk closer calmly, even if calm was the opposite of what he felt. Chest to chest, toes beside each other, he looked down at the human male, smaller and more breakable and injured on top of it all. "This is gonna hurt one way or another. Sorry." He didn't want to lose his nerve and said nothing else before bending to wrap his arms around Levi’s body, realizing belatedly that the smaller male was incredibly dense with muscle as he hefted Levi’s feet off the ground. Eren did his best to keep most of the pressure on the man's waist and hips, shifting one arm under his ass, but it couldn’t feel too great. Awkwardly, not sure where to put his face with another one this close, he asked, “Pain level?”

Levi let out a small yelp of surprise when arms were suddenly wrapped around his legs and ass and he was lifted up. The position wasn’t comfortable in the slightest, but Levi knew it would have hurt a hell of a lot more if Eren had picked him up in any other way, and he was oddly touched at the consideration. Levi kept his head turned to the side so he wasn’t looking right into Eren’s eyes and he clenched his jaw to offset some of the pain. “It’s not the worst I’ve felt,” he responded, ready for them to just be done with this. Levi was used to pain, but he didn’t want to draw it out any longer than necessary.

 He didn't have to be an expert in human expressions to know that Levi was in a hell of a lot of pain, reading the obvious tension in the body against him. Still unnerved by that closeness, still wondering what the hell he was doing, Eren nodded, deciding the best thing he could do was just get them down to the lake quickly, to end both the awkward contact and whatever pain he was going to cause in the next few minutes. The thought made his guts twist a little; no matter how angry he’d gotten over the last span of day and night, Eren didn’t want to hurt Levi unless he had no other choice. Sighing, he cautioned, “Hold on as tight as you can.” With only a moment given to follow that instruction, Eren crouched down, thigh muscles bunching before they leapt upwards, gold-green wings snapping outward to fling them higher. Dramatic, perhaps, but a lot of energy was required to get him off the ground with a passenger.

 _Holy fuck._ Levi would be excited by the fact that he was flying if it didn't fucking hurt so fucking goddamn much. He didn't even realize he'd thrown his arms around the dragon boy's shoulders and was clutching onto him for dear life because the pain in his side was so bad it was all he could do not to scream. Instead he just grit his teeth and tried not to let the couple of tears of pain in his glued-shut eyes squeak out.

Shit, that was a bad reaction. Eren worried even more at the desperate clutch of arms, but it made it easier to push aside the awkward shy feeling of being so close and focus on what he had to do for both of them. With that in mind, Eren shot them forward, wind blasting their hair back as he dove almost straight down from the cliffside manor. Speed was smooth, almost no jarring movements, but he panicked when he realized the harsh stop would be awful to the damaged ribs in Levi’s body. Eren’s wings snapped out widely, fanning the air to catch them. He tried to level them before the lurch, but their bodies still jolted in midair as they swung back upwards briefly. The rest was a drop, and then the water was rushing around their legs and hips. Eren had been aiming for the shallows, knowing the give of water would be a gentler landing for Levi than the hard jolt of ground, but the water was past his chest as he managed to tread water.

Levi barely even noticed when he eked out a small sound of pain from between his gritted teeth, but he realized it enough to lock the rest of his sounds fully inside. He never screamed. He wasn't weak like that. He'd been through pain before - this was nothing compared to that - but that didn't mean his body didn't naturally react to this. And Eren seemed to be jerking him around an awful lot, though the landing wasn't as bad as he'd expected. It was just a hell of a lot wetter. That was unexpected and Levi just gripped the boy's shoulders tighter, probably drawing blood but he didn't care because the effort sent another jolt through his ribs that he had to contain. At least Eren let Levi clutch to him as he swam to shore. With his ribs the way they were, Levi would probably drown if he tried to swim. He'd never been a good swimmer to begin with, but the ribs would just kill it.

The pain of nails digging into his skin and scales made him wince a little, but honestly Levi had to be in a hell of a lot worse condition. The faint noise he'd let out a moment ago had gone straight through Eren like a punch to the gut, and he was left with a sick sort of certainty that he had not in any way desired this, not even in his most irritated moment. Letting the his legs and tail do most of the work, Eren shifted onto his back, letting Levi's weight rest  on his chest to ease the drag of the water. "Sorry, I'm sorry- here we go, almost there," he mumbled, one hand still on the human male's hip, the other stretching back to swipe at the water. It wasn't the most speed-efficient way to swim, but it was the least jarring for his passenger as he pulled them towards the pebbled shore, holding Levi up where he clung to his shoulders. "Easy, almost there," he mumbled, almost without thought.

Levi found a small amount of reassurance in Eren's words but couldn't respond with the way he was huffing breaths in and out through his nostrils and his teeth were still gritted with the pain he refused to vocalize. He couldn’t even let go once they started to come up into the shallower areas where he probably could have walked. The pain was still just too much.

Finally Eren felt dirt under his feet and pushed up against it, hooking an arm under Levi's legs and hauling him up higher to take his weight again. The smooth lake rocks were slippery and it took the tight grasp of talons to keep them upright. Wading out of the water, Eren went straight to a thick fallen tree to set Levi down on, kneeling without regard for the rock under his knees as he settled the human male in a sitting position. "Here, you're okay, here we go.” The tight, dug-in grip of hands on his shoulders, though, made it impossible to pull back. “Can you... can you let go?"

Levi finally registered being taken from the water and put down, and at Eren's request his pulled his fingers from the boy's shoulders, his joints feeling rusted and stiff from gripping so tightly. There was blood underneath his fingernails. He itched to wash it off but was too exhausted to move. He didn't even open his eyes, focused instead on sending the pain away, as he leaned his head back against the tree trunk to catch his breath for a few minutes. When the paid had receded some, Levi cracked one eye open just a bit to see Eren before he said, still panting as if he'd just run a race, "Fuck you if you think I'm letting you fly me back down there later."

Crouched down directly in front of Levi, peering at him in worry, Eren chewed at his lips, not noticing he'd pricked the skin open with his longer teeth. The statement made his ears flick forward, large green fans that twitched erratically. Glancing along the lakeside at the dirt, rocks and strewn branches, he declined to match the level of Levi's sharpness and instead said gently, "You don't have much choice unless you want to sleep down here in the debris. This place is wild, it'd take weeks to clean it up even as neatly as the dungeon." Chewing on his lip more, disregarding the sting, he mumbled quietly, "I... I'll just take you back up to the house, after. I mean, it's not like you can get far anyways and I..." Fuck. The rest came out as a shy mumble to his toes. "I don't want you to be in pain." Going back and forth into that dirty, tiny dungeon was only going to damage the human’s body more, and it wasn’t worth it to play jailor.

Levi finally cracked his eyes open all the way and found himself smirking. He raised a hand and loosely patted Eren's cheek twice. "You're not bad, kid," he said, oddly gentle, and then he let his hand drop again along with his smirk. "Didn't you have to piss?" he asked, ready for the sentimental moment - even though he'd started it, kind of - to be over.

Face turning red at the unexpected touch, his ears fluttered even more in surprise. "Uh. I." Flustered and with no understanding of why, he pushed up to his feet with a sharp huff. "Yeah, and so did you, unless you went on the ride. Trees are good cover, so help yourself." Wings snapping open, he darted into the air, seeking a place farther in and more private to place his leavings. This human left him entirely too flustered.

Levi huffed a small laugh to himself at Eren's embarrassment, finding it... funny; not _cute_ , not _adorable_ , funny. Thankfully, he was able to cover any of those feelings with his cringe at Eren's suggestion that he peed mid-flight in his pants. Ugh. He kept that disgust on his face well after Eren left and he hauled himself up, being careful since his side still hurt pretty bad. He hobbled into the woods a little ways and chose a tree to piss on. He wasn't a fan of pissing in the woods but as long as he didn't have to stay near there he could deal with it. Thankfully, he had been wise enough not to go too far into the woods so as to lose his bearings and was able to make it out by himself. How embarrassing would it be if he'd gotten lost while pissing? Seeing that the dragon-boy wasn't back yet, Levi found a fairly clean area by the shore to sit and look out over the water. It was really quite a beautiful lake. However, his mood was soured by the fact that Eren had gotten his clothes _soaking_ _wet_ by dunking him in the lake. He supposed it had sort of been necessary, but still. It was getting fucking uncomfortable.

Finished with his business, and having grumbled in his head all the while about Levi's comments insinuating he was a 'filthy animal' about it, Eren coasted back towards the water. It was a relief to enjoy the freedom of flight without having to panic about someone else's comfort and injury. Unfortunately, he'd need to think about it again before they got back up the cliff, and he began mulling over in his mind the best way to go about it. Fast and hard had turned out to be an awful idea; he'd try to be gentler and slower this time, maybe, and hold Levi sideways to reduce the weight on his ribs?

Having reached the shore again, Eren looked at the ground below and found Levi sitting quietly with a calm look on his face. Pleased he hadn't run off and refusing to question exactly why, Eren ducked down and flew over the surface of the lake, splashing himself again in the shallows. Feet still playing in the water, he looked up thoughtfully at Levi. "You said you wanted fish, right? I'm gonna go get some. You can take a bath or something, if you want, I'll bring you the soap and stuff."

Levi watched Eren return, a little water splashing on him as the kid landed, and he picked himself up off the ground. He was disgusted at the dirt he couldn't brush from his butt since he pants were wet. There was no way he could keep wearing these. He looked up at Eren. "You got any dry clothes, by the way?"

Perplexed by the expression of pure aggravation on Levi's face, Eren shook his head. "Just more of these," he answered, tugging at the small, low-riding shorts he'd made to accommodate his hips and tail while protecting his genitals and keeping them clean. Never liking the feeling of confined limbs, Eren wore as little as possible as a rule.

Levi looked at the shorts Eren indicated - was that the outline of Eren’s dick there? If so, holy shit maybe it didn't matter that he was half-dragon because _damn_. After he got his mind out of the gutter (or as far out as it'd ever go) Levi looked up at Eren and squinted a bit. "I need a shirt," he said blankly. He didn’t care about the shorts; he needed a shirt.

Bending over to dunk his head, fingers scrubbing at the sweat and oil that had accumulated, Eren shook the water off from his hair and spit a few strands out of his mouth. It was getting long again and he'd have to cut it with his claws again soon. "Then wash that one and hang it out to dry, because I don't have any." Speaking of washing, he needed to clean the pair of shorts he'd been wearing. With little to no thought about modesty- a concept he didn't actually know existed- Eren untied the fastenings of his shorts at his hips, shucking the fabric off and wading out to scrub the garment. Soap might be a new thing for him, but little in his experience could stick in cloth or leather after being scrubbed by the smooth stones under the lake water.

It was saying something that Levi barely even registered the sight of Eren's dick - yup, it was that big, but he could drool later in private, probably while jerking off or something - because he was getting kind of pissed. "Do you at least have a towel then?" he asked, trying to contain himself. He wouldn’t, _couldn’t_ have his back exposed. "Or go get the blanket; I'll use that."

Ears flicking back in Levi’s direction, Eren scowled at the request for yet more human things he didn't know anything about. The fuck was a ‘towel’? "I'll get the blanket, just hang on a minute," he grumbled before diving under the water, long legs and broad wings carrying him down to the lake bottom. It didn't take long to clean his shorts, certainly less time than he could hold his breath for, and soon enough he was coming back up, wings spreading to send him directly from the water to the sky. The flight dried most of the water from his skin and scales, and he left the washed pair of shorts dangling over a smooth rock near his house. Tugging on a clean, dry set pair and snagging a spare for Levi, as well as the blanket used the night before in the dungeon. Shaking it clean again, Eren wadded the fabric into the bucket along with some of the rags and a bar of soap. Without a passenger, it took hardly any time to dive down the sheer drop of rock and dirt, wings beating up a harsh wind as he skidded to a stop with a pleased grin.

The thought of having to bare his scars in front of this stranger shook Levi, so he was grumpier than usual when Eren came back. That grumpiness took the form of him not even making a witty remark and just grabbing the blanket and draping it over his shoulders before trying to figure out the best way to go about this. Eventually he just decided to ask, "Are you just gonna stand there and watch? What are you, some kind of pervert?"

The sharp reply left a feeling in his body that Eren didn’t know how to label, something bruised and almost shocked at the accusation. Even barely knowing what the word implied, the wrongness of it, the insult stung. Eren frowned, not knowing how to respond. "Um, no... I was going to go get you food," he said slowly, ears sinking back far enough to almost lay against the back of his head. Eren hated feeling this off-kilter and the human seemed to do it far too easily; that was enough to make him huff angrily as he took flight again, speeding his way up and out to the far reaches of the lake, where it looked black from how deep and cold the water was. From here, Levi was a small distant figure on the shore and Eren could drop the tense guard to his expression, his features arranging themselves in a lost, miserable sort of sulk before he turned his attention towards fishing.

Eren pushed thoughts of Levi out of his head for a moment, making lazy circles high enough in the sky not to cast a detailed shadow. Catching fish was tricky enough that it required his full focus, and long minutes passed as he waited, eyes sharp and watching.  He could use his tail as bait for some of the smaller ones, but with both himself and Levi to feed, he'd go for bigger game; that and lingering above the deeper waters risked some of the lake’s bigger inhabitants deciding _he_ looked like food. Flickers of movement began showing far below, but nothing close enough to the surface. Patient, Eren waited for long moments, ignoring everything but the water below him until he saw the shadow of movement he was watching for. In an instant his wings folded in, body darting straight down in an angled freefall. At the last minute, copying the move he'd learned from birds of prey as a child, his clawed feet came down, driving his claws into scaly, wriggling flesh. The force drove him most of the way into the water and it took hard, furious beats of his wings to pull him back up with the writhing shape of a five-foot deepwater fish wriggling between his claws.

Making sure Eren was far in the distance, Levi shucked the blanket and the rest of his damp clothes. He brought the clothes and soap into the water, where he waded up to his shoulders just in case Eren were to come back unexpectedly. He tried to wash his body and clothes as quickly as possible, so he'd be out and covered by the time Eren got back, but his proclivity towards cleanliness didn't allow him to skimp on the scrubbing.

He made sure Eren was still far away when he crept out of the water, throwing the blanket over his shoulders as he went to hang up his clothes to dry. After that and again checking Eren's distance, he used the blanket to dry the rest of his body, leaving it draped over his shoulders when he was done. He picked up the tiny shorts Eren had brought him. Was this kid some kind of prostitute? Who else would wear shorts these small? Though... Levi had to admit, he had barely even noticed them on the dragon-boy before. They seemed natural on him, comfortable. On Levi, however... He felt like a fucking idiot, especially with the way he needed to tuck his dick in so that it wouldn't just pop out someplace. But even with that, Levi'd have to make damn sure not to look at that boy too long because if he got even just a bit hard, all bets were off with this scrap of fabric.

Elated with his success, Eren dragged his catch with him back towards the shore, idly noting that Levi was wrapped in the blanket and glaring down at the shorts on his legs like they'd insulted him somehow. Snorting, the half-dragon tossed the fat bulk of the fish onto the shore next to him, saying flatly, "If you want it cooked, make a fire down here where it’s easy to control. I'm getting more." Down here was rock and water; no way was Eren going to allow the dangerous heat and spark of flames near his nest. With no other comment, he was out and gone again, rinsing his toe claws in the water before swooping back high into the sky.

Levi was about to ask Eren about if he had a knife or something to clean the fish when the boy flew off again. Grumbling to himself, Levi decided to  just go gather some branches for a fire. Thankfully there was a downed tree not too far into the forest, and Levi was able to just break off some of the dead branches that would burn easier than live ones.

Following the same pattern as before, Eren had a longer wait but managed to get a bigger fish the second time. The wriggling whiskered beast of a creature that was almost as heavy as Levi to lift into the air, and would do nicely for a dragon’s appetite. Figuring there was enough to feed them both now, Eren made his way back to shore. Seeing that Levi was off doing something with tree branches, the half-dragon set himself to gutting the fish with practiced swipes of his sharp claws, fingers deft at the task. Every so often, though, Eren found himself glancing up, eyes drawn to the pale curves where Levi’s legs were uncovered by the shorts. Eren couldn't particularly pinpoint why, only that he liked the shape they made, the unexpected muscle tone and graceful proportions to the human’s body.

Levi's legs had gotten scratched up from the branches - damn short shorts - but eventually he'd gathered enough wood for a small fire. When he brought it back he saw that Eren had come back with another giant fish, but he just plopped the branches down in a pile and then went to get dead leaves for kindling. He dumped them on the pile and saw that Eren was gutting the fish with his claws. It probably wasn't the most sanitary but it was better than eating a whole fish so Levi guessed it’d have to do. The fire would sanitize the cuts of fish, anyway. Squatting by his pile of branches and letting Eren finish cleaning, Levi picked up some good branches and started rubbing one between his hands to cause friction to start a fire on the other.

After he finished cleaning the two large carcasses, Eren buried the innards farther into the woods to be eaten by wildlife, cleaned off his claws at the water’s edge and finally wandered over to watch Levi curiously. His ear frills fanned outward, lips pursed in curiosity. Having watched from a far greater distance when other humans had camped in the wilderness, Eren had a rough idea of what Levi was doing, but this close he could see the faint wisps of heat when he let his vision shift into a different spectrum. Oh, so it was the movements, the friction that made it so hot that fire came to be...? "Wow... so that's why," he mumbled to himself, crouching at Levi’s side.

Levi focused entirely on getting the fire going, which took a good bit of work. But finally he managed to get the wood to start smoking and finally erupt. He threw the dead leaves on to make the fire catch and then strategically placed the other branches around to create a small bonfire. He looked over at Eren who was staring in awe and smirked. "Don't get too close," he warned, half joking and half sincerely, not sure if the boy would know that. Once the fire caught, levi picked up one long branch he'd kept beside him. Noting how Eren had so easily cleaned the fish, he figured his claws were pretty sharp. "Sharpen this to a point," he instructed, holding it out for him.

Admiring the efficient way Levi worked, Eren continued to watch, only bothering to level a mild glare at Levi for the too-obvious warning. No shit, _don't get close_ , he was familiar with the mechanics of fire, thanks so much. Eren took the branch as it was held out, studying the grain of it for a moment to figure the best way to cut it. "How sharp? Like, skewer the fish or skewer a person?"

Levi rolled his eyes. "Skewer the fish, you idiot." What else would he be doing here?

Sticking out the forked tip of his tongue in a juvenile gesture, Eren leaned back on one leg, keeping balance with his tail. The other foot lifted to set thick, sharp claws against the branch, catching it just right before he shoved with strong thigh muscles. A rough shredding sound announced the peeling apart of wood fibers, one side a clean diagonal slope with slight grooves. A few more strokes and a rough but certainly usable spear had appeared, which Eren held out with his foot, feeling playful and smug; he’d like to see a full blood human do anything this useful with their pale slab feet.

Levi rolled his eyes and grabbed the stick, ignoring how Eren was using his foot. He held the stick in the flame for a bit to slightly burn it so it would be clean and wouldn’t get splinters in the food, and then he picked up a piece of fish and jabbed it before sticking it in the flame to begin cooking.

Snorting with amusement at the irritation he'd managed to provoke from the other male, Eren left him to cooking his fish and went to grab his own by the tail. Gutted with no other preparation and delightfully massive, Eren had every intention of eating his dinner raw as he'd always done.

Levi watched out of the corner of his eye as Eren began to eat his raw fish, but he got disgusted enough that he just chose to focus on his own, making sure it cooked evenly and fully. Once it was done, he pulled it out of the flames and let it cool for a minute, blowing on it gently before taking a careful bite.

Having spent the more recent half of his life in the wilderness, unsurprisingly Eren had little to no concern for things like dinner manners. He ate in large, vicious bites that went through flesh and bone alike, and chewed quickly. Mouth full and a fin sticking out of his mouth, Eren paused to glance over at how delicately Levi was nibbling on his food, snorting before continuing to consume his own with animalistic gusto. It didn't take longer than ten minutes before he was down to the major bones and the head, everything else having been consumed.

Hearing the boy snort at him, Levi continued to delicately eat his fish, much different from Eren's animalistic disaster of eating habits. "What? So I don't eat like a dog, why is that a problem?"

Swallowing the last chunk of his food and starting to pick scales out of his teeth with one claw, Eren shrugged. "Just seems odd. If something threatens you and you have to fight, you’re not gonna have eaten much nipping at it like that. I guess I’m just used to eating fast, since there aren’t a lot of safe places out in the wilds."

Levi paused his eating. "People would attack you all the way up here?"

"No, aside from the occasional dumbshit like you." Eren shrugged, fiddling with a few fish bones. "I didn't find this place until about a year ago." Before that, he’d wandered from place to place, with no real sense of safety or home to speak of.

Levi chewed his fish as he thought over the words, but he didn't figure out anything to say. Instead, he just finished his fish and sat back to bask in the warmth of the fire. "So," he said. "Wanna grow us some fruit for dessert?"

Surprised by the question, Eren chuckled, shrugged in mild consent to the idea. "Sure, if you’re still hungry. What do you want?"

"I could go for an apple," Levi answered. "As long as it's not poisoned." He smirked at his own little joke.

Completely missing the reference, Eren just flicked his ears uncertainly, brows furrowed. "The hell would I do that for? That's a cowardly way to kill someone." Pushing to his feet, he wandered over to a few small bushes and leaned in to inspect them for the requirements he had.

"No, it's a fairy tale," Levi began to explain, but decided that it'd be complicated, so he added, "Just forget it."

The mention of a fairy tale had Eren’s ears pricking, head swinging around excitedly. "No, tell me!" Stories were worth more than gold to him, honestly. Levi might think he was dumb, though, wanting to be told human stories. With a smirk, he added with a more teasing expression, "Since I'm feeding your ass it's the least you can do."

Levi sighed, but figured he owed it to the kid. He wasn't the best storyteller in the world - he cursed too much and scared children - but if Eren wanted to hear it he could deal with the shitty quality. So Levi began to tell the story of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.

“Once upon a time in a land just as shitty as ours there was a King and a Queen because there always is and fairy tales are always about royalty because they’re the only people that matter, right? So yeah the Queen was pregnant and she decided that she wanted to have a daughter with skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood, and hair as black as ebony. Don’t ask me why because I don’t know. The baby was born and surprise she was exactly as the Queen wanted even though in reality babies are butt ugly when they’re born.

“But the Queen gets fucked over anyway and dies in childbirth so she never gets to see her weird kid anyway. A few years later the King remarries and obviously the stepmother is fucking evil because stepmothers always are in stories, and this new Queen likes to think that she’s the most beautiful person in the world and even has this weird magic mirror thing that always tells her she’s the most beautiful person in the world because that’s a good use of magic, right? But apparently the mirror can’t lie so when the kid - oh, shit, yeah they named her Snow White after her skin color because _that’s_ a normal name - Yeah so when Snow White grows up, though she’s still only like ten, the mirror tells the stepmother “yeah no Snow White is prettier than you haha suck it” and the stepmother is like furious. Because the mirror’s opinion is apparently the only thing that matters and nobody thinks it’s creepy that an enchanted mirror thinks a ten-year-old is hotter than her own stepmother.

“So what does the new Queen decide to do? Kill Snow White of course, what other option is there? But she can’t do it herself because she’s a coward or something so instead she hires a huntsman to do it. And no one questions the huntsman taking this ten-year-old into the forest because that seems totally normal and like nothing bad could happen. But when the huntsman’s about to kill her, Snow White is like ‘what no don’t kill me please I can live in the forest’ because yeah a ten-year-old would do just fine living in the forest on her own. The huntsman’s like ‘whatever’ and decides not to kill her but the Queen wanted him to bring back Snow White’s heart as proof that he killed her - because she can totally tell Snow White’s heart from anyone else’s it’s not like they look all the same - so he cuts out a deer heart or something and brings it back to the Queen and she eats it because surprise evil people eat the hearts of young girls they had murdered that’s such a normal thing to do.

“So now Snow White’s on her own in the forest and is finally like ‘shit maybe this wasn’t a good idea’ but then she finds a random house and decides to go inside because what’s the worst that can happen she’s probably gonna die anyway. Everything in the house is tiny and there’s seven of everything and she just helps herself to some food and lies down to take a nap because she’s still a spoiled princess so she’s not used to the concept of not being able to just take what she wants.

“While she’s napping the owners of the house come back and are like ‘woah what happened who’s this girl and why is she sleeping in our house’ and Snow White wakes up and whines about her stepmother trying to kill her and the dwarves - the people who own the house - decide that she can live with them because it’s definitely not creepy for seven guys who live together to take in a lost ten-year-old girl. She just has to do all the ‘womanly’ things for them like cook and clean.

“One day when the dwarves are off mining in the mountains and Snow White’s home alone this old lady comes to the door selling shit. And that’s _completely_ normal, even though they’re in _the middle of the fucking woods._ Snow White buys an apple from her and she bites into it and passes out because surprise it was the stepmother in disguise because she still has the fucking mirror who tells her who the prettiest person in the world is and Snow White’s still in the world so the mirror tells her that.

“The dwarves come back and think Snow White’s dead because she’s not breathing or anything so they build her a coffin out of fucking _crystal_ , because that’s not expensive or anything and it’s so not creepy to be able to look inside and see her corpse just lying there in this crystal coffin in the middle of the forest.

“A little while later this prince riding in the forest comes across the coffin and is like ‘Holy shit that girl’s hot I wanna marry her it doesn’t matter that she’s ten years old and fucking _dead_.’ And he makes the dwarves open the coffin so he can kiss her because that’s not the creepiest fucking thing ever and the kiss wakes her up and they both fall in love and get married and they invite the stepmother to the wedding so that when she sees Snow White’s alive as punishment for trying to kill her the happy couple have servants force the stepmother into iron-hot shoes and make her dance for them until she dies. And Snow White and the prince lived happily ever after for probably only a few more years before they died of syphilis. The end.”

Eren had always loved being told stories, but his only experience had been his mother’s steady voice rumbling up through her scales, and the silent, lonely pages of the few books she’d left behind when he lost her. He wasn't used to the way Levi told stories, sarcastic and biting and severely judgmental of everyone he was describing. It was… _wonderful_. Eren found himself laughing, over and over, some quiet snorts and giggles breaking through the low hum of his Breath as he coaxed heavier, stronger branches from one of the bushes. Levi’s spiteful comments kept him near tears with snorting, cackling noises, and even though Eren had various comments or opinions himself, he couldn’t bring himself to interrupt for anything. Finally, as the story ended, Eren was able to concentrate enough to imagine  fruit vividly in his mind, calling it forth with another Breath. Three apples were all he managed, skins a bright red with smaller gold and green dapples- likely from his laughter making it unpredictable. Even still, they smelled good, and Eren plucked two and held one out with a flushed, careless grin. "Poison-free, I promise." A moment later, settling back at his place beside the fire, he asked with some hesitance, “Um, what’s syphilis?”

It was only after Levi had finished telling his story that he noticed Eren had grown his plant. He'd forgotten to pay attention, which he wished he had because last time it'd looked awesome. Oh well. The apple Eren handed him was very... Interesting. Levi took the colorful fruit and took a bite. Tasting it though, he couldn't help but let out a moan that was practically sexual. Fuck, did this apple taste good. Levi spent some quality time chewing his apple before he answered Eren’s question with a very informative, "It’s a disease you get from sex."

Crouched comfortably to his haunches beside the fire again, Eren made a pleased hum at Levi's enjoyment of the fruit, ear frills fanning back and forth idly. He'd just managed to sink his teeth into the side of the fruit, long canines dug in to the root to peel a chunk out when Levi commented and Eren began coughing, accidentally swallowing the bite whole. Long moments passed as he flailed, wheezing roughly until the chunk of apple managed to make it down his throat. Red-faced with tears beginning to drip from his eyes, Eren rasped hoarsely, "I-I don't understand how sex could kill you. Do humans go at it with claws like animals do, or?"

Levi barely contained his laugh at Eren's flailing, watching him struggle and making no move to help. Ok, apparently the kid knew nothing about sex. Levi might not be the best guy to go to for sex ed, but oh well. He was the only one there to explain. "See, sex is actually fucking disgusting,” he told Eren. “It's dirty and dicks and vaginas and assholes are just filthy and so sometimes diseases get in there, and so when someone has sex with someone who's got that disease they get it too. And they just give it to other people, who give it to other people, and on and on and on."

The heat of Eren's flush burned enough to have turned his entire face and chest a boiled red color as he sputtered and squawked at the entirely too vivid explanation. Sure, he knew how reproduction happened- he was a fucking naturekin, he couldn’t not know that, it was built into the cycle of life and the finer points had been explained by his mother as soon as he was old enough to ask. Even still, Levi was _so goddamn blunt_ -! "W-why the hell don't they just wash, then?!"

"Most people are too fucking disgusting," Levi explained. "But the diseases can live there even if you clean. That's why I don't stick my dick anywhere I don't know is clean and disease free."

Shivering, Eren curled into himself a little, mind providing graphic if somewhat unrealistic images of what that probably looked like. "H-how can you tell? Humans walk around wearing a lot of clothes."

"Once they're naked it's usually pretty easy to tell,” Levi said. “And if you know someone long enough you can figure out if they're lying to you."

Finally biting into his apple again, Eren took that into consideration, thinking for long moments before he heaved a sigh. "That seems so complicated. Animals never do that. You have millions of living things inside you anyways, how can humans tell if some are bad or not? I mean most of them, you need to survive."

"The bad ones usually make you puke or look disgusting, so you know," Levi explained.

Seriously alarmed, Eren coiled into himself, legs drawn up with his tail around his ankles, wings blanketing his back. "Ugh. Why risk it? Your species is gross."

"I know. Humans are disgusting."

Eren grumbled wordless agreement as he bit viciously into the apple in his hand. A moment later he relaxed, though, huffing a soft laugh after he swallowed.

Levi continued to lazily eat his apple, deciding to just focus on the taste that was as good as sex. But when Eren laughed, he had to ask. "What?"

Licking juice off his fingers, Eren shrugged, painfully honest as he said blandly, "I just was thinking that you're not so bad, at least compared to the rest. And I kinda get why you wanna wash everything now."

Nodding slightly, Levi returned to his apple. After a few bites he responded, "Well, you're fucking hot for a dragon, you know." He figured it'd be best to return the compliment.

Mid-lick, Eren paused to blink at the odd comment. After a moment, tongue sliding back in his mouth, he asked hesitantly, head cocked, "Are you talking about, like, heat, or...?" He couldn't explain why, but the tug in his guts made him hope that wasn't it.

"Hot as in attractive, idiot." Levi couldn't believe he was explaining something so simple to someone so dumb.

Flushing, Eren looked at his feet, muttering indignantly, "L-like anyone's ever said that to me before. Don’t expect me to just know shit like that." He didn't know where to look, warmth and a weird, bubbling panic filtering through his chest like some kind of laughter or cough that wouldn't come out. "I-I, uh... thanks?” He finally managed, wondering if he was supposed say the same back to Levi. Panicking as he started to wonder if he actually did think that; he’d been ogling the man’s _legs_ earlier, for fuck’s sake. “You're, um. I. Uh." His brain was utterly failing to pull together a decent response and Eren shot to his feet in a panic, stumbling a little. "I-I'm gonna go get the, uh. Cleaning supplies? Do we need those? We were cleaning! Yes, that is what I'm going to do."

Levi had to chuckle at the kid's fumbling. "What, are we gonna clean the outside?"

Looking around at the rock and dirt beach, Eren deflated, shoulders hunching. "W-well, um. No?"

"Well, I guess we’ll have to clean wherever we're staying tonight,” Levi said. “Since you're not taking me back to that dungeon. And I doubt you've cleaned wherever the hell else you stay."

Still flushed, Eren nodded hesitantly, though for some reason he still couldn't manage to look Levi in the eyes. "Then I should probably take you back up now, so you can rest your ribs and then we can get to work." Calming a little, he felt he had to point out, "And it's not nearly as dirty as the dungeon, okay."

"It'd better not be," Levi grumbled as he finished up his apple and stood. He didn't want to have to do nearly as much cleaning as yesterday. He may like cleaning, but even Levi had his limits.

Eyes rolling at the complaint, Eren held out his arms again, hesitating to recklessly grab Levi and make his injury worse, _again_. The previous hold was still the only way he could think of carrying Levi during flight, but the half-dragon waited for permission before lifting or touching.

Levi sighed and stood in front of Eren, not too excited at the prospects of being carried again. “Alright,” he said, knowing there was no way to avoid having Eren carry him again. “Let’s do this.”

Nodding, Eren bent, scooping Levi up by the legs again, face reddening as smooth skin slid under his palms instead of rough clothing. _Don’t think about it._ Avoiding the human male’s torso, settling him into the same position as before, Eren took a breath.  "Um, is this okay?”

Levi rolled his eyes at Eren’s question, even though he was actually really grateful Eren was trying to be nice. Levi wasn't used to generosity. It was weird. Nice, but weird. The position still wasn't comfortable, but comfortable would never happen with a couple broken ribs. "Yeah," he finally answered, wanting to get this over with because he knew it’d still hurt during flight.

Eren was going ridiculously slowly compared to his own natural pace, but it felt important to do it like this, to be careful of the fragile life he was holding. The ride down had taught him with brutal efficiency how very little he wanted to cause Levi pain; sensible or not, it was something his entire self had rejected immediately. As a naturekin, it was his job to nurture; he wouldn’t think about it more than that. Carefully, Eren fanned his wings behind him with steadily increasing strength, bouncing lightly on his toes before finally launching them both upward; a much smoother transition to the sky than he'd managed last time. Hovering carefully, Eren asked, "Still okay?"

This time Levi was in nowhere near as much pain when Eren took off. It wasn’t perfect, of course, but Levi had lived through much, much worse. “Yeah,” he answered, looking around. Not being crippled with pain allowed Levi to look around at the scenery as they flew, and fuck was it beautiful from way up there.

 

[Relief wound down through the muscles of his body, making it easier to keep them aloft in long, gentle strokes of his wings instead of the choppier motions of earlier. "Good." Head tilting back to watch their ascension, Eren held tight and flew them up the cliff side, the water falling away below until he finally crested over the ridge of trees. Eren blinked as the sunlight hit him, bright from late afternoon and glowing through the thin skin that webbed his wings, turning them to coronas of gold and green.

Levi’s gaze drifted to Eren’s face and the human found that he was unable to look away. The dragon boy was so beautiful with the way the sun glinted off of his skin and scales.

Squinting in the light, he tried to find a way to shade his eyes and circled around until he knew for certain he was above the shelled series of rooms he regularly inhabited. They were cleaner of detritus and fairly dirt-free, only scattered with fallen leaves and various odds and ends he'd collected for the past year. Normally Eren would just leap down, but he couldn’t jar them like that this time. It was awkward as hell, but slowly Eren lowered his hover until he was as low as he could go without scraping his wing bones on the floor. Staying over the broken stone wall to one side to keep the drop very short and mild, Eren tried to muffle the impact with his arms as they finally left the sky.

Levi was still staring at the boy as Eren descended into a room Levi wasn't paying attention to, even with the pain from the necessary jostling that happened as they landed.

Eren didn’t think he let himself even breathe again until his foot talons were clenched tightly against the stone, no longer in danger of damaging the very fragile, yet very solid person in his arms. Eren wasn't used to being close to living, intelligent beings and he found himself nervous, glancing uncertainly at Levi and wondering why the look in the pale blue-grey eyes made his pulse stutter. It took too long, far too long, to remember that he’d had something to say. "Uh... better this time?" The question was half distracted, most of his mind still caught up in matching the stare leveled at him.

Levi was not a man who easily became embarrassed, but being caught staring nearly made him stutter. Thankfully, he caught himself before he could do that, or worse, blush. Instead, he managed to compose himself and lightly clear his throat as he averted his eyes and answered, "Yeah."

Biting his lip, Eren nodded, unsure why he felt somehow disappointed when the eye contact dropped away. Still holding Levi up, he walked sideways along the broken stones until it was low enough to step down from without a big, jostling leap; the sheer drop to the dungeon was right behind him, his living area just ahead. The floor was open and empty of all but paving stones and a piece or two of old wooden furniture that had clearly suffered the weathering of lacking a roof. The entire area had once been on the second floor, now only a partial fragment held up by the dirt of the cliffside and massive tree roots that wove underneath. A crumbling staircase took up the far, curving wall, leading to the only room with a roof, which Eren had made his bedding area. It was far from even a fragment of an actual house, but for Eren it was the only home he had.

"I can walk now," Levi pointed out now that they were in the building. It wasn't that he didn't want Eren to carry him, it was that he didn't want to want Eren to carry him, and he was worried he wouldn’t be able to control that want if Eren didn’t put him down soon.

Heat spread over his face and Eren sputtered, ears flicking back and eyes anywhere but on Levi as he leaned down and set the man on his feet. He was solid but not hard to carry, not for a half-dragon at least, and it was alarmingly easy to get used to; almost as alarming as how hard it was to stop noticing the way Levi’s legs felt, damn it all by the scales on Tiamat’s ass. Scolding himself mentally, Eren tried to save his slip-up by replying, "The stairs aren't very safe, I was just going to get you up there. Since you can't fly."

"But I _can_ walk,” Levi insisted, annoyed at the implication that he couldn’t even walk up a flight of stairs on his own, broken ribs or not. “And you're forgetting I'm a skilled mercenary. I can handle some damn stairs."

Never mind that this started to evade a blush, Eren was hardly going to lose the tiny argument he had on his side. "And your ribs are cracked and will probably outright break if you slip and fall on them," Eren growled, tail lashing and stirring up leaves.

"I'm not going to slip on some damn stairs!" Levi argued.

"Fine then!" Throwing his hands up, Eren gave up and leapt upwards with a quick snap of his wings, no more effort needed before he landed on the upper floor and skulked into his room.

Levi decided to sulk around the bottom floor for a while, but very quickly got disgusted by the amount of dirt around and hoped that the upstairs would be better. He admittedly did have trouble getting up the stairs, but he refused to ask for help. He eventually managed and tried to hide his struggle as he made it up the last steps into Eren's room. It was a giant nest. A giant fucking nest. "What the fuck?" he asked, completely taken aback by the sight.

Eren had coiled down in his carefully woven haven of branches and blankets- a barely-concave cradle that kept his body far from the cold stone floor- sulking moodily inside and pretending he wasn't actually concerned as he heard Levi attempt the stairs. Now, stupidly relieved he hadn't died in the process, Eren poked his head over the rim, ears flicking. "What, ‘ _what the fuck’_? Now what's wrong?"

"Are you a fucking bird?” Levi asked, looking around at the giant woven structure in the middle of the room. “You have a fucking nest?"

Grumbling, Eren popped up enough to sprawl chest-down over the rim; the bed was in fact woven to act somewhat like a mattress and it bounced gently under his weight as the various interwoven branches dipped. "It's practically a goddamned bed and a hell of a lot more comfortable than the stupid dungeon floor. By all means, though, you can go sleep  on the stone if you want. I'm staying up _here_."

Levi scowled. It sure as hell didn't look comfortable, but it had to be better than the stone floor, especially with how filthy that floor was. Well, the nest could be just as dirty. But he could always get out of the nest if it was too bad or the branches started poking him or something. So he grudgingly climbed up and tried to make himself comfortable, which happened to include once again using Eren’s magnificent abs as his pillow. He tried not to stare though. There wasn’t really much else to do, though, especially since he was already lying on top of the kid, so he decided to try to sleep.

At least Levi was trying it. Eren shifted aside to make room as Levi clambered in, trying not to laugh at the awkward way he did so. The afternoon sun slanted in, gilding the edge of the bed, and Eren found it strangely natural to curl up slightly, the soft tickle of Levi's hair spread over his stomach. Why he was still the designated pillow, Eren didn’t know, but he didn’t really mind, either. Levi’s hair felt nice, like Eren could touch it and it would flutter through his fingers like feathers. He didn't touch, but it was harder to resist than it should have been. Letting Levi settle first, Eren finally asked, voice mild, "Are you tired enough to nap? The moonlight will reach up here, so it's fine if you want to clean later."

Levi grumbled, not happy to be distracted from his subtle inspection of Eren’s abs as he tried to sleep. "Well I don't feel like going back down to that filthy hole down there, so unless you feel like talking about our feelings I'm gonna nap."

One wing stretching up in a comfortable arch over the both of them, Eren yawned, tongue curling catlike behind the tips of his sharp teeth. Honestly, a nap sounded nice; he hadn't gotten much rest the night before and the physical strain of fishing was starting to wear on him. Still, both tired and curious, he smiled lazily and muttered, "What 'feelings'? Like, your hair feels pretty soft, is that it?"

Levi was surprised how angry he wasn't when Eren curled a wing over the two of them, but he was shocked into a snort that jostled his ribs when Eren asked about feelings. "Feelings, you dumbass. Like happy or sad and why. And why the fuck do you know what my hair feels like? Why are you feeling my hair?!" If the kid had been running his greasy finger-claw-things through his hair, he'd be pissed.

 Blinking repeatedly, getting closer to dozing, Eren calmly pointed out, "Levi, your hair is all over my stomach. I don't have scales there, so I can feel it."

"Normally people mostly feel with their hands," Levi grumbled.

"Is the rest of my skin not supposed to feel anything?" Eren deadpanned.

"No." Levi was getting frustrated. "You _do_ feel things there, just not as strongly. Ugh. It's weird."

"Levi, I have scales on the backs of my hands," he reminded the other sleepily, lifting one hand to glance at it. The pads were still sensitive, but the backs protected.

"Whatever." Levi honestly couldn't care less about scales and other dragon things at the moment. He was still keeping his eyes surreptitiously trained on Eren's abs, his staring hidden by the way he was laying.

Eren wasn’t sure why Levi was bringing it up, but maybe this was a thing that humans did as a social activity. Trying to take it as a serious question. Eren tilted his face against the blankets, one eye peering sleepy and mild back at Levi. "I... suppose I feel happy, then."

"You're seriously talking about your feelings? I was being sarcastic, kid." But, at the same time he couldn't help but be interested. "Ok, fine, I'll bite. Why are you happy?"

Now that he was getting sleepier, Eren's defenses were nearly nonexistent, too mellow to try too hard against the creeping warmth he’d already been feeling. He didn't think much of it before mumbling, eyes closed, "Mm, sorry. I guess it's just... nice, to not be alone. It's been... a really long time."

But Levi was shocked about Eren's explanation of his feelings. Nobody had ever really appreciated Levi's company before, which was why Levi spent most of his time alone. He had to admit, being here with Eren wasn't the worst thing in the world, either. But he would never actually admit that aloud. Instead, he just said with his usual snark, "Glad to help."

Blinking at the pithy mutter, he glanced uncertainly at Levi before lifting a shoulder in a slight shrug. "Mm. I mean, it's selfish, isn't it? You probably want to get out of here as soon as possible, and it's not like I'm going to make you stay. It's just..." Confused about where he was going with the rambling mutters, Eren sighed, curling one arm under his head, shifting until his body curved naturally under Levi's. "Forget it. I guess I'm just making shit up or something."

Levi managed a sort of shrug when Eren talked about him wanting to get out of here as soon as possible. "Eh, it's not like I'd be able to head back into town anytime soon, anyway. They'll shit themselves if I come back without killing you, so I'd have to keep a low profile until I get a few towns away, and eh. It's just a lot of work. Might as well hang out here for a while. Eat some freaky fruit. But you're gonna have to clean this place top to bottom as soon as we get up later."

Ears flicking forward a little, teeth clamped on his lower lip, Eren tried and failed to convince himself that he didn't feel stupidly happy. "...yeah? Well, y'know, the humans around here really are assholes, it's better to stay away." Shrugging a little, trying to swallow the grin pulling at his mouth, Eren relented to the cleaning with, "Well. I, uh. I wouldn't want to die or anything from weird germs so that's okay.”

Levi couldn't help but snort. "That's a good plan for all humans." Truthfully, he already liked Eren more than most humans he’d ever met. Granted, that wasn't a very high bar to exceed, but still. Levi did catch Eren acting kind of strange, though, and he tried to figure out why. Finally, after studying Eren's face for a little while, Levi caught it and had to smirk. "You're like pissing yourself with how happy you are I'm staying, aren't you?"

Not _this_ human, maybe. Maybe this one was weird, different like he was; maybe it was okay to admit that he kinda liked Levi after all. Eren wasn’t ready for the bluntness of the question, embarrassment flaring as his words came out in a garbled squeak and wide green eyes stared at Levi from a very red face.

Since when did dragons squeak? It was fucking _adorable_. This could be a good opportunity to tease the kid. He shifted so that he was lying right on top of Eren, moving up so that their faces were mere inches from each other. "You want me to stay that badly, huh?" he asked, ignoring the slight pain in his ribs from the position in favor of seeing through with his teasing.

Tiamat's ass scales, he had no idea how to handle this. It would be far too easy to push Levi away if not wanting him this close was a problem, but all Eren did know was that his stomach was warm and shivering and he kinda liked it. Ears pinned back shyly, teeth once again worrying his lower lip, Eren stared upwards. "I, uh." A hard gulp. "M-maybe."

Levi smirked even more at the kid's reactions. He was so innocent, it was fucking adorable. He lowered his head until he was speaking right into one of Eren's weird-ass ears. "You really want my _company_?" He made sure to say the last word as suggestively as possible, hoping even someone so naive as Eren would get it.

Ohgodohgod _ohgod_. There was breath tickling his ear and weight leaning on his chest and Levi smelled really good and _oh god what was happening?_ Shivering but too warm at the same time, Eren gulped, lost for words as Levi sprawled over him. He felt like the answer was _yes_ but was he supposed to actually say so? Lying seemed like a bad idea, and Levi probably wouldn't be smiling like that if he had a problem with it- and god, that expression made heat flush all down his guts and tug lightly between his legs, a seriously weird feeling. Even as nervous as it made him, he tried to steady himself, licking his lips while staring directly up at Levi's face. "...yes. Yes, I-I... I think I do."

At Eren's hesitant answer, Levi couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt for teasing the kid. He was just so innocent. But he couldn't back out now. Levi pulled away so he was just an inch from Eren's lips again, glancing down at them as he did so. "Have you ever had _company_ before?" he asked. Was he seriously considering doing anything with the brat? Yes. Yes he was. It couldn't just be because he was hot - though that certainly didn't hurt. There was just something different about the kid, and not just the whole dragon-thing. He was oddly appealing to Levi, and Levi didn't like people very easily. He wanted Eren. He didn’t quite know why, but he knew it for a fact.

Eren still didn't really understand what was going on, only knew his body was reacting to the warm sprawl of another body above his own and Levi was asking him something important that he still didn't know the exact answer to. He was smart enough to know they were talking about something specific, but what it was he couldn't pinpoint. The feeling of not understanding something was as familiar as it was frustrating, and Eren had never been good at holding back from trying to learn more. This didn't feel different in that respect; he wanted to know more about this odd feeling and Levi at least seemed willing to teach him. "I... um. Not like this." An uncertain flicker of his ears, face still warm as he mumbled, "You're the first person I've actually talked to in a long time."

Levi couldn't help but chuckle at Eren's response and tilt to lean his forehead against Eren's. "God, you're such a virgin," he commented with a smile.

Teal eyes crossed to keep meeting Levi's now that they were so close, a goofy smile tugging up one corner of his mouth. "If that's a problem, then fix it," he muttered, still only half understanding what they were talking about. (He hoped to god he knew what they were talking about...)

Well, the kid had tenacity, that was for sure. Levi raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know what you're getting into, kid?" he asked, and then he decided to lower his hips to gently press against Eren's, curious as to what he'd find there.

No, no he did not, and that was probably obvious from the way Eren flushed down his neck and squeaked again. His shoulders arched back into the bed as the heat and pressure of another body, muscle and bone and blood, rocked down against his pelvis, drawing unfortunate attention to the area. Feeling his dick responding, Eren flushed and began babbling mortified apologies. "A-ah! S-s-sorry, I-!"

 _Oh_. Well, Levi could work with this. Especially with the fucking _adorable_ way the kid was responding. He couldn't help but smirk. "Why're you apologizing, brat?" he asked, grinding his hips down a bit harder, even though he himself wasn't getting hard yet. "You told me to fix it, so I'm just doing what you asked."

When he'd caught and tied up a human trespasser yesterday morning, this was really the farthest thing from what he'd expected to happen, and Eren was still unsure how it'd actually progressed to... whatever they were doing. The heat and pressure of Levi's hips rocking down made heat flush up through his body, sudden and startling, and Eren shivered as an odd mewl filled his throat. "I-I... ah-! U-um-!"

Levi had his fun teasing for a bit but ultimately stopped rocking his hips down, needing actual confirmation before they actually did anything. His ribs were kind of hurting, also. "Hey," he said to make sure Eren was paying attention. "Do you actually want to do this?"

He had to suck in a few shaky breaths before he answered, trying to pull his thoughts together. Watching the subtle wince as Levi shifted, Eren bit his lip, shifting uncertainly underneath him. "I... I don't know yet. You're in pain, and I'm still not sure what exactly... if you're asking what I think you are." Shyly, eyes dropping to the smooth skin at Levi's collar, he mumbled, "I don't mind it, though."

Levi stayed still as he considered for a while. Would he fuck the kid? Probably. But his ribs were hurting, and this kid was so innocent... "Well, there's a lot we can do besides sex, which is just messy and disgusting and a lot of work and since you're such a virgin I'll end up having to do all of that so instead just... follow my lead." He leaned down and pressed his lips against Eren's, deciding it'd be best to start things off slow.

They'd been talking about _sex_ \- oh, shit, okay, he hadn't thought that far ahead. Eren gulped, ears fluttering uncertainly, eyes curious as he nodded slightly. Whatever it was, for whatever reason, it felt like it was okay. It was Levi, and for some reason that made a difference. The pressure of their mouths pressing together made his eyes widen. It felt... nice, soft and warm. A little odd, and he could feel the other man's breath flutter through his nose, but Eren decided he kinda liked it. Humming mildly, he leaned his head up to return the pressure slightly, trying to play along.

Good. The kid could follow instruction, and wasn't raging ahead and trying to swallow his tongue like some people did. But, it was still early on in the game. Levi tested the waters for a while, keeping it strictly to a closed-lips kiss. However, after a couple minutes of that he started to get bored, so he decided to nip on Eren's bottom lip to see if he would open up at the simple prompt.

A pleasant, mellow sort of warmth had begun to run down his arms and legs, filling his torso, and Eren was honestly enjoying himself. The nip came as a surprise, a sharper heat running down through his stomach at the sting, and his eyes flew open from where they'd been half-lidded. Holding very still, he quirked his brows in question, lips parting slightly against the pressure of teeth. " _Mmn?_ " His hands were still at his sides, fingers set against the blankets until he knew it was alright to touch.

Levi found the kid's nervousness endearing, and he definitely liked the way he was being sure to stay still and not get too eager or aggressive. Levi took Eren's lip between his and sucked and nibbled on it for a little bit before finally reaching his tongue into the boy's mouth, curious to see how he’d react to that.

To Eren, this felt incredible, gentler than the startling heat of their hips moving but still pleasant and warm. It left him just a little breathless, shivering under the smaller figure that sprawled across him. His lips felt a little swollen from the attention, more sensitive, and Eren heard himself moan as Levi played with his lip. The sudden slick-warm invasion made him tense, briefly alarmed, but the deft movement felt _good_ and he couldn't help opening his mouth more, sucking a little bit on Levi's tongue.

The kid wasn't half-bad at this. Levi let him suck on his tongue for a while, kind of glad that he wasn't the one doing all the work. He'd been willing to do that when he thought the brat'd be a clueless virgin, but it seemed he had some natural talent. Levi realized something as he moved his tongue around Eren's mouth, though, and he pulled back in confusion. "Do you have a fucking _forked tongue_?" he asked. He hadn't realized it earlier, so it was pretty shocking.

Flushed and distracted, the slit pupils in his eyes wide and dilated, Eren blinked multiple times at the interruption. "Uh... yes?" Distracted, he leaned upwards, nosing lightly at Levi's jaw in hopes of getting more kisses and less odd questions.

Levi was now fully distracted by the concept of this forked tongue. "Holy shit," he said, barely paying attention to how Eren was nosing at his jaw, though he vaguely thought in the back of his mind how needy the kid already was. Eventually, Levi came back to himself and he leaned down, cupping Eren's jaw in his hand as he looked into his eyes. "Remind me to teach you how to give a blow job later. I have a feeling you're gonna be fucking amazing at it."

It briefly occurred to Eren that his tongue was weird to Levi and might be a problem, but then warm fingers were on his skin and Levi honestly looked the opposite of unhappy. Kind of excited, actually, and that made him happy in an inexplicable way. Grinning, he let his tongue slide fully out of his mouth, reaching just barely to his chin and quirking in an upward curve before he pulled it back into his mouth. "Okay." And, because he was a troublemaker when he was happy, he said dutifully, "Remember to teach me how to give a blowjob, Levi."

 _Fuck_ , Levi could just tell from the way Eren stuck out his tongue that he was going to enjoy this. He quirked a brow at Eren's snark, half-pleased that the kid was capable of it. "Hey, if you want to do it now I have no problems with that. I was going slow for your virgin ass."

Oh shit. Eren thought he should probably be worried, but... well, he wasn't. In fact, lips still warm and guts tangled up with eagerness, he thought it might be a great idea. Whatever this was blowjob thing was, Levi hadn't hurt him and Eren... well, he trusted him. "Okay. Teach me."

Levi smirked, pleased with this turn of events, before a thought occurred to him. "You do know what a fucking blow job is right?"

Giddy off how nice and wicked that smirk looked close-up, Eren hummed and licked the underside of Levi's jaw. "Mmm. Nope. Teach me anyways."

Leaning down,Levi bit lightly at Eren's jaw in retaliation for the lick. Then he moved up to nip at Eren's earlobe and ask, "You know that it involves putting a dick in your mouth, don't you?"

Shuddering at the new sensations, Eren whined softly, enjoying the new game even as he tried to figure out the rules. A little bolder, Eren tilted his head to lick at Levi's throat, tasting his pulse until the words made him still. A dick in his mouth… well, he supposed it would fit, though why he wasn’t sure. Eyes wide, Eren blinked, then asked slowly, "You're not scared of my teeth?" There were more questions in his mind but that was the biggest one that came to mind.

Levi pulled away from their teasing as soon as Eren mentioned his teeth. "If your fucking teeth so much as lightly scrape my dick, I will chop yours off." He was deadly serious. Levi didn't joke when it came to teeth near his cock, especially sharp, pointy ones.

"I wouldn't!" Eren protested, looking ill. "I-I just, I mean, I was just asking if you were… if you were scared." A lot of people were scared of Eren for no reason and it still felt odd that Levi wasn't, even if he had reasons to be. Even if Eren really didn't want him to be, either. "I'll be careful, okay, I just wanted to ask."

"As long as you are _so_ fucking careful," Levi warned. "Because as fucking huge as your dick is, I will not hesitate to chop it off if I so much as feel your teeth on my skin." To be honest, he was pretty excited about the huge dick, but he was also pretty terrified of someone biting his own.

"I will be!" Eren scowled, forgetting that he was arguing for the rights to put a dick in his mouth before he blinked at the comment. "Wait, why is it huge?" That was distracting- was he disproportional? It wasn't like he'd know if he was. Ears flicking back and forth, Eren huffed, leveling an irritated glare upwards.

"Have you fucking _seen_ your dick?" Levi asked. "You're hung like a fucking horse."

"So do you look at a lot of horse dicks, then?" Eren couldn't help muttering, brows pushing together on a flat stare.

"It's a fucking expression, idiot.” Levi explained, rolling his eyes. He decided they’d talked enough about this. "Still want to do this?"

Flushing, Eren squirmed, the argument having done nothing to detract from the flush of want in his stomach. "Well, you know, I never actually said I didn't and now you're distracting me from how nice everything feels, so yes, please, before the seasons change if we could..."

Levi rolled over so that he was lying on his back. It was actually a lot more comfortable on his ribs. "Ok,” he said. “Put your face near my crotch. I'm not getting naked while laying on a bunch of sticks so just pull my dick out of these tiny shorts."

Eren growled, even as he blinked at the switch of positions. "It's not a bunch of fucking sticks, goddamn, like human straw mattresses are better or something?"

“Straw is at least somewhat soft and the entire thing is covered in a sheet,” Levi argued, always needing to have the last say.

Tuning out the argument with a loud huff, Eren swiftly moved onto his knees, wings fanning up above him excitedly as he got into the position Levi’d said. He hesitated halfway through reaching for Levi's fly, however, looking with anxiety at his hands. Yes, he was dexterous, and yes, he knew he could be gentle, but... he was nervous. With careful motions he managed to get the laces undone, but instead of reaching in with claws first, Eren decided to be proactive. Carefully, lips and teeth used precisely, he began to tug at the fabric with his mouth until he could gently pull it down a little over Levi's hips.

Levi looked up at Eren's wings and wondered idly if they were at all sensitive. He made a mental note to test that out later, but now he had different priorities. Noticing how Eren hesitated, Levi had to remind himself that for all his confidence, the kid was still the biggest virgin on Earth. But then _fuck_ , he was taking Levi's pants off with his _mouth._ "You sure you've never done this before, kid?"

Eren was momentarily distracted by the closeness of another body to his face, licking at the sharp arch of one hipbone in idle curiosity. The taste of skin covered his tongue, warm and strangely normal, with cold tints of lake water. As awkward as the position was, not knowing what he was doing, Eren still liked this game and wanted to know more, wanted to do well at it. The idea was kind of intriguing on its own, too. Rolling his eyes upward, he pulled the fabric down lower, humming at the warm and musky smell of the skin near Levi's groin. "I'm being _careful_. Is it... is this okay?"

Oh, so the kid could tease. Levi had to keep himself from jerking his hip when he felt the brat lick at it, and then Eren had to go on about how _careful_ he was being. "You're doing fucking perfect, kid," he huffed, already getting kind of frustrated as he was getting more aroused.

Pleased with the praise, Eren pulled more at the fabric, and then something was nudging his chin, warm and heavy and wow okay Levi smelled _really fucking good_. Then Eren looked down to see what it was and had his first moment of looking at a dick beside his own. It took a moment to speak beyond the strange sense of shivering want crawling through his guts. "... _oh_." Thank Tiamat he’d said yes, this was amazing, this was… wow.

"Oh?" Levi asked, wanting to know if that was a good 'oh' or bad 'oh.' He was pretty confident it was a good one, but he wanted to hear it from Eren himself.

The playful feeling from before hadn’t left,  still bubbling in Eren’s guts, but the sensory impact was making him... well, drool. Gulping a little, he offered a shaky grin up at Levi but didn't answer- not verbally, at least. Instead, pressing his face to the warm skin along the inside of Levi's pelvis and thigh, he sighed, cheek rubbing catlike along the skin. God, this smell was amazing, and Eren wanted to stay here forever. Shy but curious, the tip of his tongue slid out to lap at the skin and muscle of the dick arching proudly in front of his face, tasting hot, tight skin, a clean sort of salty musk lingering on the back of his palette. It made Eren hum, pleased as he licked a bit more.

 _Fuck._ Okay. Levi's hips may have jerked a little bit at the feeling of the brat's cheek against his thigh and then his fucking _tongue_ against his dick. In his defense, it'd been a while since he let someone do this. It'd been a while since he'd done more than jerk off, actually, because he tended to be so picky with his partners. So he was a bit sensitive. " _Fuck_ ," he said, putting his hand on the kid's head. He kept himself from gripping too tightly to the soft hair - way too soft for how infrequently the kid probably bathed - but settled for just stroking his fingers through it. "Good," he praised. "Keep going." He didn't want to risk the kid stopping because Levi didn't give him any feedback or instruction.

Lost in growing haze of warmth and smell and taste, Eren shot startled green eyes upward when fingers suddenly pushed through his hair; a touch that, after a moment, felt even better and had him purring low in his throat. Lashes falling shut, he returned to what he'd been doing, inexpert licks and kisses pressed messily to the curve of Levi's dick, eager to please, eager to explore. His own erection was beginning to ache between his thighs and he shifted, leaning on his elbows with his hips higher in the air to ease the pressure.

Levi held back all of his sounds out of habit, but that didn't mean he didn't enjoy Eren's ministrations. He swallowed heavily, watching Eren shift his hips up, revealing the nice curve of his ass. " _Fuck_ ," he repeated, allowing his hand to grip a bit tighter in the kid's hair. "Now take it into your mouth." He couldn't wait to feel that wet heat and that tongue wrapping around him.

Heat throbbing in his throat, his chest, down through his guts, Eren whined desperately at the sharp tug to his hair. It stung in a wonderful, startling way, little electric shocks across his skin that pooled heat in his guts; Eren vaguely wondered if it was normal to like that, in the back of his mind where he wasn't overcome by sheer _want_. Thighs visibly trembling with the need to press against something but uncertain how to proceed, Eren propped himself up on his hands, palms pressed to either side of Levi's hips. Take it in his mouth… following the tug on his hair, Eren opened his mouth a little, breath hitching as the ‘o’ of his lips slid down across the tight crown. The flush of blood under the skin felt intoxicating, a smear of something wet and salty-bitter making him hum in intrigue and surprise. He licked at it, mouth open and teasing over the slit with the slender tines of his forked tongue. A good taste… greedy, Eren forced his jaw wider- wide enough to not risk teeth scraping- and tentatively began to suck Levi's length further into his mouth, sliding it back over his tongue.

" _Fuck._ " Levi just couldn't stop repeating that, could he? He tightened his hand in Eren's hair when he finally took him into his mouth in order to keep him from bucking his hips or pulling Eren down onto him. He may not be particularly nice, but he didn't want to choke the boy - unless he was into that. But this was his first blow job, so he didn't want to throw him too much. He threw his head back and let his eyes close so that he could concentrate on the feeling. "Now just... bob up and down." He didn't want to admit the strain in his voice, but it was definitely there. How the fuck was this boy so good if he was such a virgin?

Eren shivered, moaning a bit at... at _everything_ , the thick weight in his mouth and hot, bitter salt on his tongue, the tug in his hair and the ache in his shorts, the fucking rasp of Levi's voice that felt like like it was a hand stroking his skin. He obeyed the order, clumsy but enthusiastic, letting the awkward stretch push up through his mouth until it nudged at the back of his throat. Wait, how much up and how much down? He hadn't gotten all of Levi's dick in his mouth yet, was that important? His throat was tight but he could probably make it fit… Eren pushed, swallowing reflexively and shuddering at the way his mouth felt so incredibly full. His eyes stung and watered, saliva trailing down Levi's cock, but Eren whined and slowly forced himself down until, with a wonderful sort of burn, he felt himself swallow the rest of the organ and press nose-first into Levi's pelvis.

Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. Fuck. How the everloving _fuck_ was the kid able to deep throat? And the way he swallowed around him and whined? God-fucking-damn. "Oh my god," Levi breathed. He was holding on to Eren's hair for dear life by now, trying his hardest not to buck his hips. "How the fuck are you so perfect at this?" he asked, barely even acknowledging that he was saying it aloud.

Eren was shaking, an unsteady all-over trembling that wouldn’t stop, and part of him knew it but the rest was too overwhelmed to address it. The sharp pulling on his hair, the stretch and sting of his throat around heat and heavy muscle, all of it was flooding his body and he could only stare upwards with dilated green eyes and whimper as Levi talked to him. For a moment he was honestly lost for what to do, the stimulation too much for him, but Levi was praising him and looked... he looked _beautiful_ , utterly wrecked, and part of Eren was thrilled that he'd done that. Thrilled enough to steady, just a little. Eren tried to keep going, swallowing repeatedly until the pain eased in his throat, easing up carefully and trembling at the rasp of friction against his lips and tongue. The wetness leaking out of his mouth made him slurp loudly, an obscene sound, and he arched his back as pain and longing throbbed through his pelvis again. Gods, it fucking _hurt_ , all of it did, but in some terribly beautiful he’d never known existed.

Goddamn. Levi was going to cum even though it'd only been like a minute. The brat was just _that_ good. "Fuck," he groaned again, willing himself to pull his head up and look at Eren and _shit_ the kid was staring up at him and whining and he just couldn't help but buck his hips into that fucking gorgeous mouth. "Shit," he said, tugging at Eren's hair intentionally this time to prompt him to pull away. "I'm gonna come."

He'd never felt this good, this desperate, this _hot_ before and Eren wriggled desperately, cock leaking in the tight shorts that now felt like torture devices. The spurt of salt and bitter on his tongue made him suck harder, hips bucking reflexively on a sharp moan as Levi fucked up into his mouth. The desperate warning made him pause, though, wondering if something was wrong. Was that not the point? Reluctantly pulling back, Eren let Levi's dick slip from his mouth, making a small, wet _pop_ as he asked hoarsely,, "A-are you not supposed to? Should I stop?" Eren didn't _want_ to stop, was already pouting a little with puffy lips.

“No, fuck," Levi breathed, finding words difficult with how close to the edge he was and how frustrated he was by the lack of mouth on his cock. "Just- You don't want to swallow. It tastes like shit. But _fuck_ at least keep touching it."

Growling low in his throat, Eren rebelliously leaned down, lapping at the leaking, swollen tip. "I like how you taste, shut up," he rasped, lips pursing as he sucked until he could work the length back into his mouth and shove his mouth down to the hilt. God, it felt good in a way nothing else ever had, stretching and burning with friction until he was digging his claws into the blankets and groaning.

"Fuck!" Levi couldn't help but yell in surprise when Eren took him all the way down so suddenly. He never let himself lose so much control, but with the way the kid was performing it was impossible not to. Levi brought down his other hand to join the one tangled in the kid's hair and gripped tight, tied between wanting to pull Eren off out of sensitivity and acknowledgment of how the kid was a virgin - though he was kind of beginning to doubt that with how fucking _great_ he was doing - and wanting to shove his mouth down as far as it could possibly go. But he couldn't keep his hips from what they were doing, bucking up into that mouth that was practically _vibrating_ with those groans, and jeez this kid was such a cockslut it was perfect, he was perfect. And then Levi was coming, hands nearly tearing out Eren's hair as tried to keep himself from pushing his head all the way down as far as it would go.

Eren hadn't known that he'd ever enjoy having hands knotted in his hair while a human dick was fucking up into his throat, heavy and wet, but Eren right now couldn't think of anything he'd want more. Except maybe if his dick was getting friction, too, because it ached worse than he'd ever felt in his life. It was hard to focus on that, though, with Levi coming apart under him, and sudden wet stickiness was spurting down his throat. Mewling, he sucked and swallowed, addicted to the throb of desperate flesh on his tongue and the bitter-sharp musk that tasted somehow inherently of Levi. He’d done this, the entire reaction was because of _him_ , and that was fucking glorious. Eren knew what an orgasm was, at least, and knew after sucking Levi through the last trembling shudders that he should stop; slipping the flushed organ from his mouth, he let his arms collapse, face pressed into Levi's hip as he panted and shuddered through the awful arousal clenching in his body. "Did I... _ngh_... did I do it right?"

Levi had to take a minute to catch his breath before he could answer, and when he finally did he tugged on the kid's arm to pull him up closer and quickly and roughly sucked a mark into that perfect fucking neck. "You-" he said in between bites and sucks. "Were _fucking_ perfect."

Eren went willingly, remembering only at the last moment to hold himself up on shaky arms to avoid putting any weight on Levi's injured ribs. Still trembling, he whined loudly at the mouth on his neck, hips shifting restlessly and wings flared up and forward in the most classic mating presentation his body knew how to make, too far gone with instinct to even question it. The praise made his insides glow bright enough to almost wipe out the lust clawing at his brain, though, and Eren flushed deeper. "G-good. I’m… I’m glad," he moaned, still lost in the sensation of teeth against his skin.

It would take a complete idiot not to see how worked up the kid was, and Levi had never been one to leave his partners high and dry. He had also never particularly been a fan of sticking dicks in his mouth, but he figured he could use his ribs as an excuse to leave that job to the brat for a while. Instead, once he was satisfied with the mark he left on the kid's neck, he patted the area of the nest up next to his chest. "Come up here," he instructed, far too blissed-out to move from where he was lying - another thing he could use his ribs to excuse.

Eren was a mess, and the tight bruise Levi had left on him felt like a claim he had no idea how to reciprocate- though gods above, he wanted to. Unsteady, he nodded, crawling over to curl into a ball at Levi’s side, legs drawn up as his stomach throbbed, too much blood and pressure as his heart rate refused to settle. He'd had enough erections to vaguely know how to deal with them, but it felt odd and awkward- was Levi okay with it? "U-um," he mumbled shyly, "can I get rid of mine now? It hurts."

Levi smirked, though it was a bit lazy due to his post-orgasmic state. "Get rid of it? Way to make it sound romantic, kid." He reached over and tapped Eren's knees. "I need to be able to get to it if you want me to 'get rid of it'," he said.

Eren blinked, thinking to himself that Levi looked pretty when he smiled. Focusing on the comment, Eren flushed deeply, shifting his legs down awkwardly; new and strange to expose himself like this, despite what he’d just done, hyper aware of the tight ridge in his shorts. "Oh. I didn't... I wasn't expecting you to- okay."

"I'm not an asshole," Levi said with a defensive glint to his eyes that showed that he'd had to tell others this before. "I'm not just going to leave you hanging." He hadn't even realized that Eren had asked if _he_ could 'get rid of' his own; he'd misheard and assumed he was asking Levi to do it, because it would only be normal.

"I wasn't saying that!" Eren protested, ears fluttering back awkwardly as he forced himself to lay out flat, without hiding the obvious signs of arousal; an arousal that was getting more painful by the moment. “I- just- nevermind, please, can we just-?”

At least the kid listened, and Levi was able to reach over and unlace the tight shorts and take the thick length of Eren's cock in his hand. _Fuck_ , he was going to need both his hands if he even wanted to reach all the way around it. He'd thought it was big before, but it was even more so now that it was fully erect. "Fuck, kid," he commented as he started slowly stroking in precise movements. "If more people knew about what you were packing, I'm sure the ladies of the town wouldn't mind you kidnapping them." He'd vaguely heard the rumors, of course, that the dragon had to be kept at bay or else it would kidnap and kill all the young maidens of the town - only the maidens for some reason - but he was very glad it seemed to be bullshit. Well, this kid definitely was into at least guys; who knew if he liked girls? It didn’t seem to matter.

The sudden fingers tugging at his clothes made Eren suck a breath in, spine arching into the wonderful, startling feeling of pressure on his dick. Someone else’s touch, new and startling and _good_ , so very good, holy fuck. Turning his face into Levi's shoulder, he let himself fall apart, mouth open and tail thrashing as clever fingers worked over him. "A-ah, god- please-" And then Levi had to make a snarky comment and Eren growled, eyes opening. "Fucking- Levi why the hell would I want to kidnap- agh!- dumb human women with my dick?" This was probably the weirdest conversation he'd ever had, and while erect no less, and he was utterly lost.

Levi had to laugh at Eren's wild protest to human women coming in contact with his dick (and Levi had to agree with the reaction, to be honest). "I'm just saying," he commented casually, bringing his free hand to hold the back of Eren's neck to help ground him as he added a twist to the strokes of his other hand, flicking his thumb over the head as he did so.

"Stop saying," Eren managed, hands scrabbling at the bedding before coming to rest hesitantly on Levi's arms, fingers careful not to cut into skin even as far gone as he was. The hand on his neck felt wonderful and he pushed forward, face pressed into Levi's neck, hips bucking helplessly to match the pace as the friction turned into something wonderful. He was leaking over Levi's fingers, slicking the motions, orgasm so fucking close he could taste it at the back of his mouth- or was that the remnants of Levi’s climax he tasted? The random thought dragged up an immediate, vivid memory of Levi coming down his throat, and heat shot through him like lightning in reaction. Eren yelled, spine arching as he came harder than he could ever remember thinking possible. Black and white streaks ran behind his eyelids and he writhed, utterly lost to the world.

Levi was shocked that the boy came so soon, but then remembered that, regardless of his amazing blow job, he was still a virgin. Well, maybe not quite so much anymore, though there was still lots of fun to be had. Levi stroked Eren through his orgasm and then wiped the come - ew - from his hand on the nearest blanket. He still held the kid's head to his shoulder, wanting to make sure that he was ok after all this. He laid back in the nest and pulled Eren with him to have him lie down at his side. "Yeah," he said after some time. "I think I'll stay awhile."

Shaking through the harsh tremors that wrung through his guts, Eren whimpered, unable to string together words as he curled up close. It felt good, in a mindless way, to press skin to skin and seek comfort; a solid anchor as he slowly came down from the incredible height Levi had flung him to. Even when clarity returned somewhat to his thoughts, the half-dragon couldn’t bear to move back, wanting to badly to savor this brand-new gift of intimacy. Sticky and sleepy, he tugged his shorts closed, then took Levi's hand and began to lick it clean of the remaining wet spots; Eren didn't want to leave him dirty. " _Mnn_ ," he managed, tucking his face into the curve of Levi's neck and sighing deeply. He was so tired... "Mkay. Good. G'night."

Levi stuck out his tongue in disgust when Eren started licking his hand clean. "You're so disgusting," he said, but his tone was fond. And if that wasn't clear enough to show how little he actually cared at the moment, next he turned his head to press a kiss to the top of the dragon-boy's sweaty and now very messy hair before he relaxed back into the - admittedly not that uncomfortable - nest-mattress, saying, "Goodnight," as he put his arm around the kid to make sure he stayed close. Levi may never admit it, but he was a bit of a cuddler.

Huffing at the mild insult, Eren cuddled closer, pointedly licking Levi's neck to dispute the idea of being gross. He felt warm and wrung out, completely ready for a long nap. He'd have to think about this later, wonder about it, but for now he was warm and safe and there was a gentle gesture being pressed against his brow, touch keeping him nearby; he didn't need anything else. Humming low under his breath, Eren sighed and covered them both with a wing, dozing off easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone who'd like a visual example of Eren's hunting style, [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nA3LtXnNIto) is the inspiration for his type of fishing.  
> I also spent way too long drawing Eren with a fish in his mouth, so if you want to see it, [here you go](http://khimairan.tumblr.com/post/100214302284/and-heres-hours-of-scale-detail-that-ill-never).  
> As always you can find us at [downtheupstairs](http://downtheupstairs.tumblr.com) (ennuithereyet) and [khimairan](http://khimairan.tumblr.com) on tumblr, feel free to come on over if you have questions or comments. :)
> 
> We track the tumblr tag "fic: sun and pride" and post fanart and updates to it, if you'd like to keep an eye out or show us anything.
> 
> More will be coming, don't worry- we've written way more than this, but we have work and college so sometimes we don't have clear periods to edit together. If there's a lag in updates, I promise, it's not a matter of abandonment.


End file.
